json/Tanakh/Prophets/Jeremiah/English/merged.json

{
    "title": "Jeremiah",
    "language": "en",
    "versionTitle": "merged",
    "versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org/Jeremiah",
    "text": [
        [
            "The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. ",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to him in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign, ",
            "and throughout the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah son of Josiah of Judah, when Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month.",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to me:",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before I created you in the womb, I selected you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before you were born, I consecrated you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I appointed you a prophet concerning the nations.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I replied:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ah, my Sovereign </span> G<small>OD</small> !<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I don’t know how to speak,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am still a boy.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And </span> G<small>OD</small> said to me:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not say, “I am still a boy,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But go wherever I send you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And speak whatever I command you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have no fear of them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am with you to deliver you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "G<small>OD</small>\n reached out and touched my mouth, and G<small>OD</small> said to me: Herewith I put My words into your mouth.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, I appoint you this day</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Over nations and kingdoms:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To uproot and to pull down,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To destroy and to overthrow,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To build and to plant.</span><br>",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? I replied: I see a branch of an almond tree.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>almond tree </b>Heb. <i>shaqed</i>.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> said to me:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You have seen right,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am watchful</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>watchful </b>Heb. <i>shoqed</i>.</i> to bring My word to pass.",
            "And the word of G<small>OD</small> came to me a second time: What do you see? I replied:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I see a steaming pot,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Tipped away from the north.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Tipped away from the north </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And </span> G<small>OD</small> said to me:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the north shall disaster break loose</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Upon all the inhabitants of the land!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am summoning all the peoples</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of the kingdoms of the north</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall come, and shall each set up a throne</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before the gates of Jerusalem,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against its walls round about,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And against all the towns of Judah.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will argue My case against them</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>them </b>I.e., Jerusalem and Judah.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For all their wickedness:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have forsaken Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And sacrificed to other gods</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And worshiped the works of their hands.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So you, gird up your loins,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Arise and speak to them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All that I command you.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not break down before them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lest I break you before them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I make you this day</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A fortified city,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And an iron pillar,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And bronze walls</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against the whole land—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against Judah’s kings and officers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And against its priests and citizens.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>citizens </b>Lit. “the people of the land.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will attack you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But they shall not overcome you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am with you—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —to save you."
        ],
        [
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to me, saying, ",
            "Go proclaim to Jerusalem: Thus said G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I accounted to your favor</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The devotion of your youth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your love as a bride—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How you followed Me in the wilderness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In a land not sown.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Israel was holy to </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The first fruits of God’s harvest.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All who ate of it were held guilty;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Disaster befell them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hear the word of </span> G<small>OD</small>, O House of Jacob,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Every clan of the House of Israel!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">What wrong did your ancestors find in Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That they abandoned Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And went after delusion and were deluded?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They never asked themselves, “Where is </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who brought us up from the land of Egypt,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who led us through the wilderness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A land of deserts and pits,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A land of drought and darkness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A land nobody had traversed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Where no human being had dwelt?”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I brought you to this country of farmland</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To enjoy its fruit and its bounty;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But you came and defiled My land,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You made My possession abhorrent.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The priests never asked themselves, “Where is </span> G<small>OD</small> ?”<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The guardians of the Teaching ignored Me;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The rulers</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>rulers </b>Lit. “shepherds”; cf. 3.15; 23.1ff.</i> rebelled against Me,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the prophets prophesied by Baal</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And followed what can do no good.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Oh, I will go on accusing you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will accuse your children’s children!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Just cross over to the isles of the Kittim and look,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Send to Kedar and observe carefully;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See if aught like this has ever happened:</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has any nation changed its gods</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Even though they are no-gods?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But My people has exchanged its glory</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For what can do no good.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Be appalled, O heavens, at this;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Be horrified, utterly dazed!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For My people have done a twofold wrong:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have forsaken Me, the Fount of living waters,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That cannot even hold water.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is Israel a bondman?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is he a home-born slave?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then why is he given over to plunder?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lions have roared over him,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have raised their cries.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have made his land a waste,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His cities desolate, without inhabitants.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those, too, in Noph and Tahpanhes</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Noph and Tahpanhes </b>Cities in Egypt. The Egyptians, like the Assyrians, will prove a disappointment; cf. v. 36.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Will lay bare</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Will lay bare </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> your head.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, that is the price you have paid</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For forsaking </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>that is the price you have paid / For forsaking the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God </b>Lit. “that is what your forsaking the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God is doing to you.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who led you in the way.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Who led you in the way </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">What, then, is the good of your going to Egypt</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To drink the waters of the Nile?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And what is the good of your going to Assyria</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To drink the waters of the Euphrates?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let your misfortune reprove you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let your afflictions rebuke you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Mark well how bad and bitter it is</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That you forsake </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That awe for Me is not in you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares my Sovereign </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For long ago you</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>you </b>For the form, cf. <i>shaqqamti</i>, Judg. 5.7; in contrast to others “I.”</i> broke your yoke,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Tore off your yoke-bands,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And said, “I will not work!”</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>work </b>Following the <i>kethib</i>; <i>qere</i> “transgress.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On every high hill and under every verdant tree,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You recline as a whore.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I planted you with noble vines,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All with choicest seed;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Alas, I find you changed</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Into a base, an alien vine!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though you wash with natron</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And use much lye,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your guilt is ingrained before Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares my Sovereign </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How can you say, “I am not defiled,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have not gone after the Baalim”?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Look at your deeds in the Valley,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Valley </b>Of Hinnom; cf. 7.31–32; 32.35.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Consider what you have done!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a lustful she-camel,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Restlessly running about,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Restlessly running about </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Or like a wild ass used to the desert,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Snuffing the wind in her eagerness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose passion none can restrain,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">None that seek her need grow weary—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In her season, they’ll find her!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Save your foot from going bare,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And your throat from thirst.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But you say, “It is no use.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No, I love the strangers,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>strangers </b>I.e., other gods.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And after them I must go.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a thief chagrined when caught,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So is the House of Israel chagrined—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They, their kings, their officers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And their priests and prophets.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They said to wood, “You are my father,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To stone, “You gave birth to me,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">While to Me they turned their backs</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And not their faces.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But in their hour of calamity they cry,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Arise and save us!”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And where are those gods</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You made for yourself?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let them arise and save you, if they can,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In your hour of calamity.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For your gods have become, O Judah,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As many as your towns!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why do you call Me to account?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You have all rebelled against Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To no purpose did I smite your children;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They would not accept correction.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your sword has devoured your prophets</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a ravening lion.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O generation, behold</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>O generation, behold </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> the word of G<small>OD</small> !<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have I been like a desert to Israel,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Or like a land of deep gloom?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then why do My people say, “We have broken loose,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">We will not come to You anymore?”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Can a maiden forget her jewels,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A bride her adornments?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet My people have forgotten Me—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Days without number.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How skillfully you plan your way</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To seek out love!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why, you have even taught</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The worst of women your ways.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Moreover, on your garments is found</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The lifeblood of the innocent poor—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You did not catch them breaking in.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>breaking in </b>In which case there might have been an excuse for killing them; cf. Exod. 22.1.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet, despite all these things,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">m</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Yet, despite all these things </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You say, “I have been acquitted;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely, God’s anger has turned away from me.”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, I will bring you to judgment</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For saying, “I have not sinned.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How you cheapen yourself,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By changing your course!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You shall be put to shame through Egypt,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Just as you were put to shame through Assyria.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From this way, too, you will come out</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With your hands on your head;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">n</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>With your hands on your head </b>A gesture of wild grief; cf. 2 Sam. 13.19.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> has rejected those you trust,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You will not prosper with them.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "[The word of G<small>OD</small> came to me] as follows: If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and gets married to another man, can he ever go back to her? Would not such a land be defiled?<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\">Cf. Deut. 24.1–4.</i> Now you have whored with many lovers: can you return to Me?—says G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Look up to the bare heights, and see:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Where have they not lain with you?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You waited for them on the roadside</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a bandit</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>bandit </b>Lit. “Arab.”</i> in the wilderness.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And you defiled the land</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With your whoring and your debauchery.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And when showers were withheld</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the late rains did not come,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You had the brazenness</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>brazenness </b>Lit. “forehead.”</i> of a streetwalker,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You refused to be ashamed.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Just now you called to Me, “Father!</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Father </b>I.e., the One who conveys legitimacy and provides support, in return for loyalty.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You are the Companion of my youth.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Does one hate for all time?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Does one rage</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hate…rage </b>Cf. Akkadian parallels <i>nadāru</i> and <i>shamāru</i>.</i> forever?”<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That is how you spoke;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You did wrong, and had your way.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>had your way </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            " \nG<small>OD</small>\n said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what Rebel Israel did, going to every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and whoring there? ",
            "I thought: After she has done all these things, she will come back to Me. But she did not come back; and her sister, Faithless Judah, saw it. ",
            "I noted: Because Rebel Israel had committed adultery, I cast her off and handed her a bill of divorce; yet her sister, Faithless Judah, was not afraid—she too went and whored. ",
            "Indeed, the land was defiled by her casual immorality, as she committed adultery with stone and with wood.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>with stone and with wood </b>I.e., she deserted her God for idols of stone and wood.</i> ",
            "And after all that, her sister, Faithless Judah, did not return to Me wholeheartedly, but insincerely—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "And G<small>OD</small> said to me: Rebel Israel has shown herself more in the right than Faithless Judah.",
            "Go, make this proclamation toward the north, and say: Turn back, O Rebel Israel—declares G<small>OD</small>. I will not look on you in anger, for I am compassionate—declares G<small>OD</small>; I do not bear a grudge for all time. ",
            "Only recognize your sin; for you have transgressed against the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God, and scattered your favors<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>favors </b>Lit. “ways.”</i> among strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not heeded Me—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "Turn back, rebellious children—declares G<small>OD</small>. Since I have espoused<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>espoused </b>Meaning of Heb. <i>baʻalti</i> uncertain; compare 31.32.</i> you, I will take you, one from a town and two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. ",
            "And I will give you shepherds<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>shepherds </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> after My own heart, who will pasture you with knowledge and skill.",
            "And when you increase and are fertile in the land, in those days—declares G<small>OD</small> —people shall no longer speak of the Ark of the Covenant of G<small>OD</small>, nor shall it come to mind. They shall not mention it, or miss it, or make another. ",
            "At that time, they shall call Jerusalem “G<small>OD</small>’s Throne,” and all nations shall assemble there, in the name of G<small>OD</small>, at Jerusalem. They<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>They </b>I.e., Israel and Judah.</i> shall no longer follow the willfulness of their evil hearts. ",
            "In those days, the House of Judah shall go with the House of Israel; they shall come together from the land of the north to the land I gave your ancestors as a possession.",
            "I had resolved to adopt you as My child, and I gave you a desirable land—the fairest heritage of all the nations; and I thought you would surely call Me “Father,”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Father </b>See note at v. 4.</i> and never cease to be loyal to Me. ",
            "Instead, you have broken faith with Me, as a woman breaks faith with a paramour, O House of Israel—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark! On the bare heights is heard</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The suppliant weeping of the people of Israel,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they have gone a crooked way,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ignoring </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> their God.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Turn back, O rebellious children,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will heal your afflictions!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Here we are, we come to You,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For You, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, are our God!",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely, futility comes from the hills,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Confusion from the mountains.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">m</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Surely, futility comes from … the mountains </b>I.e., the pagan rites celebrated on the hills are futile; exact force of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Only through </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is there deliverance for Israel.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But the Shameful Thing</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">n</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Shameful Thing </b>Heb. <i>Bosheth</i>, a contemptuous substitute for Baal.</i> has consumed<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The possessions of our ancestors ever since our youth—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their flocks and herds,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their sons and daughters.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let us lie down in our shame,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let our disgrace cover us;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For we have sinned against </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">We and our ancestors from our youth to this day,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And we have not heeded </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God.”"
        ],
        [
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If you return, O Israel</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If you return to Me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If you remove your abominations from My presence</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And do not waver,</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And swear, “As </span> G<small>OD</small> lives,”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>swear, “As G<small>OD</small> lives” </b>I.e., profess the worship of G<small>OD</small>.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In sincerity, justice, and righteousness—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nations shall bless themselves by you</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>you </b>Heb. “him.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And praise themselves by you.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>you </b>Heb. “him.”</i> ",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> to the citizenry of Judah and to Jerusalem:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Break up the untilled ground,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And do not sow among thorns.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Open</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Open </b>Lit. “circumcise”; cf. Deut. 10.16; 30.6.</i> your hearts to G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Remove the thickening about your hearts—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O citizenry of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lest My wrath break forth like fire,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And burn, with none to quench it,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of your wicked acts.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Proclaim in Judah,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Announce in Jerusalem,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And say:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Blow the horn in the land!”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shout aloud and say:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Assemble, and let us go</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Into the fortified cities!”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Set up a signpost: To Zion.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Take refuge, do not delay!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I bring evil from the north,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And great disaster.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The lion</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>The lion </b>I.e., the invader from the north, as G<small>OD</small>’s agent of destruction.</i> has come up from its thicket:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The destroyer of nations has set out,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has departed from its place,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To make your land a desolation;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your cities shall be ruined,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Without inhabitants.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For this, put on sackcloth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Mourn and wail;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For G<small>OD</small>’s blazing anger</span> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has not turned away from us.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And in that day</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The mind of the king</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the mind of the nobles shall fail,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The priests shall be appalled,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the prophets shall stand aghast.</span><br>",
            "And I said:<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>And I said </b>Septuagint reads “And they shall say.”</i> Ah, my Sovereign G<small>OD</small> ! Surely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It shall be well with you—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet the sword threatens the very life!</span><br>",
            "At that time, it shall be said concerning this people and Jerusalem:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The conduct of My poor people</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>My poor people </b>Lit. “the daughter that is My people”; so, frequently, in poetry.</i> is like searing wind<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the bare heights of the desert—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It will not serve to winnow or to fan.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A full blast from them comes against Me:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Now I in turn will bring charges against them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, the destroyer</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>destroyer </b>Heb. “it,” i.e., the invader of v. 7.</i> ascends like clouds,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Its chariots are like a whirlwind,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Its horses are swifter than eagles.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Woe to us, we are ruined!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Wash your heart clean of wickedness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O Jerusalem, that you may be rescued.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How long will you harbor within you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your evil designs?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark, one proclaims from Dan</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And announces calamity from Mount Ephraim!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Tell the nations: Here they</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>they </b>I.e., the invading forces of v. 7.</i> are!<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Announce concerning Jerusalem:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Watchers</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Watchers </b>See preceding note.</i> are coming from a distant land,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They raise their voices against the towns of Judah.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like guards of fields, they surround her on every side.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For she has rebelled against Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your conduct and your acts</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have brought this upon you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">This is your bitter punishment;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It pierces your very heart.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Oh, my suffering,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>suffering </b>Lit. “entrails.”</i> my suffering!<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How I writhe!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Oh, the walls of my heart!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My heart moans within me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I cannot be silent;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I hear</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I hear </b>Lit. “you, O my being, hear.” Change of vocalization yields “I hear the blare of horns, / My inner being, alarms of war.”</i> the blare of horns,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Alarms of war.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Disaster overtakes disaster,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For all the land has been ravaged.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Suddenly my tents have been ravaged,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In a moment, my tent cloths.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How long must I see standards</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And hear the blare of horns?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For My people are stupid,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They give Me no heed;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are foolish children,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are not intelligent.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are clever at doing wrong,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But unable to do right.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I look at the earth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is unformed and void;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At the skies,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And their light is gone.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I look at the mountains,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are quaking;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all the hills are rocking.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I look: no human is left,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all the birds of the sky have fled.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I look: the farmland is desert,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all its towns are in ruin—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of God’s blazing anger.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">(For thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The whole land shall be desolate,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I will not make an end of it.)</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For this the earth mourns,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And skies are dark above—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because I have spoken, I have planned,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will not relent or turn back from it.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At the shout of horseman and bowman</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The whole city flees.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They enter the thickets,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They clamber up the rocks.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The whole city is deserted,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nobody remains there.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And you, who are doomed to ruin,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">What do you accomplish by wearing crimson,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By decking yourself in jewels of gold,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By enlarging your eyes with kohl?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You beautify yourself in vain:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lovers despise you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They seek your life!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I hear a voice as of one in travail,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Anguish as of a woman bearing her first child,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The voice of Fair Zion</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Panting, stretching out her hands:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Alas for me! I faint</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before the killers!”</span>"
        ],
        [
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Roam the streets of Jerusalem,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Search its squares,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Look about and take note:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You will not find anyone engaged;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>anyone engaged </b>Conscientiously, as a covenant partner.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is no one who acts justly,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who seeks integrity—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That I should pardon her.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Even when they say, “As </span> G<small>OD</small> lives,”<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are sure to be swearing falsely.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, Your eyes look for integrity.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You have struck them, but they sensed no pain;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You have consumed them, but they would accept no discipline.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They made their faces harder than rock,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They refused to turn back.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then I thought: These are just poor folk;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They act foolishly;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they do not know the way of </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The rules of their God.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So I will go to the wealthy</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And speak with them:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely they know the way of </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The rules of their God.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But they as well had broken the yoke,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Had snapped the bonds.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The lion of the forest strikes them down,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The wolf of the desert ravages them.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A leopard lies in wait by their towns;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whoever leaves them will be torn in pieces.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For their transgressions are many,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their rebellious acts unnumbered.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why should I forgive you?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your children have forsaken Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And sworn by no-gods.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When I fed them their fill,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They committed adultery</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And went trooping to the prostitute’s house.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They were well-fed, lusty</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>well-fed, lusty </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> stallions,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Each neighing at another’s wife.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall I not punish such deeds?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall I not bring retribution</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On a nation such as this?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Go up among her vines</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>vines </b>Lit. “rows.”</i> and destroy;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lop off her trailing branches,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they are not of </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">(But do not make an end.)</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the House of Israel and the House of Judah</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have betrayed Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have been false to </span> G<small>OD</small> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And said: “It is not so!</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>It is not so </b>Or “Not He”; cf. Deut. 32.39; Isa. 43.13.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No trouble shall come upon us,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">We shall not see sword or famine.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The prophets shall prove mere wind</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the Word is not in them;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus-and-thus shall be done to them!”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The God of Hosts:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because they</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>they </b>Heb. “you.”</i> said that,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I am putting My words into your mouth as fire,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And this people shall be firewood,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Which it will consume.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, I am bringing against you, O House of Israel,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A nation from afar</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is an enduring nation,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is an ancient nation;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A nation whose language you do not know—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You will not understand what they say.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their quivers</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Their quivers </b>Emendation yields “Whose mouths.”</i> are like a yawning grave—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are all mighty warriors.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will devour your harvest and food,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will devour your sons and daughters,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will devour your flocks and herds,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will devour your vines and fig trees.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will batter down with the sword</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The fortified towns on which you rely.</span><br>",
            "But even in those days—declares G<small>OD</small> —I will not make an end of you.",
            "And when they<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>they </b>Heb. “you.”</i> ask, “Because of what did the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God do all these things?” you shall answer them, “Because you forsook Me and served alien gods on your own land, you will have to serve foreigners in a land not your own.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Proclaim this to the House of Jacob</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And announce it in Judah:</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hear this, O foolish people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Devoid of intelligence,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That have eyes but can’t see,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That have ears but can’t hear!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Should you not revere Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Should you not tremble before Me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who set the sand as a boundary to the sea,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As a limit for all time, not to be transgressed?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though they roar, they cannot pass it.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet this people has a wayward and defiant heart;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have turned aside and gone their way.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have not said to themselves,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Let us revere </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who gives the rain,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The early and late rain in season,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who keeps for our benefit</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The weeks appointed for harvest.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is your iniquities that have diverted these things,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your sins that have withheld the bounty from you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For among My people are found evildoers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who lurk, like fowlers lying in wait;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Who lurk, like fowlers lying in wait </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They set up a trap to catch other people.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As a cage is full of birds,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So their houses are full of guile;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That is why they have grown so wealthy.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have become fat and sleek;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They pass beyond the bounds of wickedness,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>pass beyond the bounds of wickedness </b>Some ancient versions read “have transgressed My words for evil.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they prosper.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will not judge the case of the orphan,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nor give a hearing to the plea of the needy.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall I not punish such deeds</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall I not bring retribution</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On a nation such as this?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">An appalling, horrible thing</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has happened in the land:</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The prophets prophesy falsely,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the priests rule accordingly;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>rule accordingly </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And My people like it so.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But what will you do at the end of it?</span>"
        ],
        [
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flee for refuge, O people of Benjamin,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Out of the midst of Jerusalem!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Blow the horn in Tekoa,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Set up a signal at Beth-haccerem!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For evil is appearing from the north,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And great disaster.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fair Zion, the lovely and delicate,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will destroy.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Fair Zion, the lovely and delicate, / I will destroy </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against her come shepherds with their flocks,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They pitch tents all around her;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Each grazes the sheep under his care.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the sheep under his care </b>Understanding <i>yado</i> as in Ps. 95.7.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Prepare for</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Prepare for </b>Lit. “Consecrate.”</i> battle against her:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Up! we will attack at noon.”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Alas for us! for day is declining,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The shadows of evening grow long.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Up! let us attack by night,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And wreck her fortresses.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hew down her trees,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And raise a siege mound against Jerusalem.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She is the city destined for punishment;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>She is the city destined for punishment </b>Emendation yields “She is the city of falseness.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Only fraud is found in her midst.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As a well flows with water,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So she flows with wickedness.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lawlessness and rapine are heard in her;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before Me constantly are sickness and wounds.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Accept rebuke, O Jerusalem,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lest I come to loathe you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lest I make you a desolation,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">An uninhabited land.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let them glean</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Let them glean </b>Emendation yields “Glean” (singular).</i> over and over, as a vine,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The remnant of Israel.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pass your hand again,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a vintager,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Over its branches.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\">The prophet speaks.</i> </span>To whom shall I speak,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Give warning that they may hear?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their ears are blocked</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they cannot listen.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, the word of </span> G<small>OD</small> has become for them<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">An object of scorn; they will have none of it.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I am filled with G<small>OD</small>’s wrath,</span> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I cannot hold it in.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pour it on the infant in the street,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And on the company of youths gathered together!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yes, men and women alike shall be captured,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Elders and those of advanced years.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their houses shall pass to others,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fields and wives as well,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I will stretch out My arm</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against the inhabitants of the country</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For from the smallest to the greatest,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are all greedy for gain;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Priest and prophet alike,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They all act falsely.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They offer healing offhand</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the wounds of My people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Saying, “All is well, all is well,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When nothing is well.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have acted shamefully;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have done abhorrent things—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet they do not feel shame,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they cannot be made to blush.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, they shall fall among the falling,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall stumble at the time when I punish them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—said </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Stand by the roads and consider,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Inquire about ancient paths:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Which is the road to happiness?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Travel it, and find tranquility for yourselves.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But they said, “We will not.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I raised up lookouts</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>lookouts </b>I.e., prophets.</i> for you:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Hearken to the sound of the horn!”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But they said, “We will not.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hear well, O nations,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And know, O community, what is in store for them.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>O community, what is in store for them </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hear, O earth!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I am going to bring disaster upon this people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The outcome of their own schemes;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they would not hearken to My words,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they rejected My Instruction.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">What need have I of frankincense</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That comes from Sheba,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Or fragrant cane from a distant land?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your burnt offerings are not acceptable</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I shall put before this people stumbling blocks</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Over which they shall stumble—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Parents and children alike,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Neighbor and friend shall perish.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, a people comes from the northland,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A great nation is roused</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the remotest parts of the earth.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They grasp the bow and javelin;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are cruel, they show no mercy;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The sound of them is like the roaring sea.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They ride upon horses,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Accoutered like a man for battle,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against you, O Fair Zion!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“We have heard the report of them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Our hands fail;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pain seizes us,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Agony like a woman in childbirth.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not go out into the country,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not walk the roads!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the sword of the enemy is there,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Terror on every side.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My poor people,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>My poor people </b>Lit. “Daughter that is My people”; so, frequently, in poetry. See 4.11 and note.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Put on sackcloth</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And strew dust on yourselves!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Mourn, as for an only child;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Wail bitterly,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For suddenly the destroyer</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is coming upon us.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have made you an assayer of My people</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">—A refiner</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>refiner </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You are to note and assay their ways.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are copper and iron:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are all stubbornly defiant;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They deal basely</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>deal basely </b>See note at Lev. 19.16.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All of them act corruptly.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The bellows puff;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The lead is consumed by fire.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>The bellows … fire </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet the smelter smelts to no purpose—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The dross</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">m</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>dross </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> is not separated out.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are called “rejected silver,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> has rejected them."
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>:",
            "Stand at the gate of the House of G<small>OD</small>, and there proclaim this word: Hear the word of G<small>OD</small>, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship G<small>OD</small> !",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your actions, and I will let you dwell<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>let you dwell </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Change of vocalization yields “dwell with you”; so Aquila and Vulgate.</i> in this place. ",
            "Don’t put your trust in illusions and say, “The Temple of G<small>OD</small>, the Temple of G<small>OD</small>, the Temple of G<small>OD</small> are these [buildings].” ",
            "No, if you really mend your ways and your actions; if you execute justice between one party and another; ",
            "if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place; if you do not follow other gods, to your own hurt— ",
            "then only will I let you dwell<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>let you dwell </b>See note at v. 3.</i> in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors for all time. ",
            "See, you are relying on illusions that are of no avail. ",
            "Will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely, and sacrifice to Baal, and follow other gods whom you have not experienced,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>experienced </b>See note at Deut. 11.28.</i> ",
            "and then come and stand before Me in this House that bears My name and say, “We are safe”?—[Safe] to do all these abhorrent things! ",
            "Do you consider this House, which bears My name, to be a den of thieves? As for Me, I have been watching—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "Just go to My place at Shiloh, where I had established My name formerly, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ",
            "And now, because you do all these things—declares G<small>OD</small> —and though I spoke to you persistently, you would not listen; and though I called to you, you would not respond— ",
            "therefore I will do to the House that bears My name, on which you rely, and to the place that I gave you and your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh. ",
            "And I will cast you out of My presence as I cast out your kinsfolk, the whole brood of Ephraim.",
            "As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf, do not plead with Me; for I will not listen to you. ",
            "Don’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?",
            "The children gather sticks, the fathers build the fire, and the mothers knead dough, to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Queen of Heaven </b>I.e., a particular goddess who was known by this epithet.</i> and they pour libations to other gods, to vex Me. ",
            "Is it Me they are vexing?—says G<small>OD</small>. It is rather themselves, to their own disgrace. ",
            "Assuredly, thus said my Sovereign G<small>OD</small>: My wrath and My fury will be poured out upon this place, on human beings and on animals, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the soil. It shall burn, with none to quench it.",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat! ",
            "For when I freed your ancestors from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice. ",
            "But this is what I commanded them: Do My bidding, that I may be your God and you may be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoin upon you, that it may go well with you. ",
            "Yet they did not listen or give ear; they followed their own counsels, the willfulness of their evil hearts. They have gone backward, not forward, ",
            "from the day your ancestors left the land of Egypt until today. And though I kept sending all My servants, the prophets, to them<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>them </b>Heb. “you.”</i> daily and persistently, ",
            "they would not listen to Me or give ear. They stiffened their necks, they acted worse than their ancestors.",
            "You shall say all these things to them, but they will not listen to you; you shall call to them, but they will not respond to you. ",
            "Then say to them: This is the nation that would not obey the E<small>TERNAL</small> their God, that would not accept rebuke. Faithfulness has perished, vanished from their mouths.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shear your locks and cast them away,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Take up a lament on the heights,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> has spurned and cast off<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The brood that provoked such wrath.</span><br>",
            "For the people of Judah have done what displeases Me—declares G<small>OD</small>. They have set up their abominations in the House that is called by My name, and they have defiled it. ",
            "And they have built the shrines of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in fire—which I never commanded, which never came to My mind.",
            "Assuredly, a time is coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when this people<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>this people </b>Heb. “they.”</i> shall no longer speak of Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but of the Valley of Slaughter; and they shall bury in Topheth until no room is left. ",
            "The carcasses of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, with none to frighten them off. ",
            "And I will silence in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride. For the whole land shall fall to ruin."
        ],
        [
            "At that time—declares G<small>OD</small> —the bones of the kings of Judah, of its officers, of the priests, of the prophets, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be taken out of their graves ",
            "and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven that they loved and served and followed, to which they turned and bowed down. They shall not be gathered for reburial; they shall become dung upon the face of the earth. ",
            "And death shall be preferable to life for all that are left of this wicked folk, in all the other places to which I shall banish them—declares G<small>OD</small> of Hosts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Say to them: Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When people fall, do they not get up again?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If they turn aside, do they not turn back?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why is this people—Jerusalem—rebellious</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With a persistent rebellion?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They cling to deceit,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They refuse to return.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have listened and heard:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They do not speak honestly.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No one regrets their own wickedness</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And says, “What have I done!”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They all persist in their wayward course</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a steed dashing forward in the fray.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Even the stork in the sky knows its seasons,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the turtledove, swift, and crane</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Keep the time of their coming;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But My people pay no heed</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To G<small>OD</small>’s law.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How can you say, “We are wise,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And we possess G<small>OD</small>’s Instruction”?</span> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For naught the scribes!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The wise men shall be put to shame,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall be dismayed and caught;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, they reject the word of </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So their wisdom amounts to nothing.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, I will give their wives to others,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And their fields to dispossessors;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For from the smallest to the greatest,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are all greedy for gain;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Priest and prophet alike,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They all act falsely.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They offer healing offhand</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the wounds of My poor people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Saying, “All is well, all is well,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When nothing is well.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have acted shamefully;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have done abhorrent things—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet they do not feel shame,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They cannot be made to blush.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, they shall fall among the falling,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall stumble at the time of their doom</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—said </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will make an end of them</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I will make an end of them </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain; change of vocalization yields “Their fruit harvest has been gathered in.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No grapes left on the vine,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No figs on the fig tree,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The leaves all withered;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whatever I have given them is gone.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Whatever I have given them is gone </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why are we sitting by?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let us gather into the fortified cities</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And meet our doom there.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God has doomed us—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And has made us drink a bitter draft,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because we sinned against </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">We hoped for good fortune, but no happiness came;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For a time of relief—instead there is terror!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The snorting of their horses was heard from Dan;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At the loud neighing of their steeds</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The whole land quaked.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They came and devoured the land and what was in it,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The towns and those who dwelt in them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, I will send serpents against you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Adders that cannot be charmed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they shall bite you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When in grief I would seek comfort,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>When in grief I would seek comfort </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My heart is sick within me.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\">Here God is speaking.</i> </span>“Is not G<small>OD</small> in Zion?<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is not her Sovereign in her midst?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why then did they anger Me with their images,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With alien futilities?”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark! The outcry of my poor people</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the land far and wide:</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Harvest is past,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Summer is gone,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But we have not been saved.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because my people is shattered I am shattered;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I am dejected, seized by desolation.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is there no balm in Gilead?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Can no physician be found?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why has healing not yet</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Come to my poor people?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Oh, that my head were water,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My eyes a fount of tears!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then would I weep day and night</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the slain of my poor people.</span>"
        ],
        [
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Oh, to be in the desert,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At an encampment for wayfarers!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Oh, to leave my people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To go away from them—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they are all adulterers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A band of rogues.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They bend their tongues like bows;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are valorous in the land</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For treachery, not for honesty;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They advance from evil to evil.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they do not heed Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Each of you, beware of your friend!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Trust not even your kinsfolk!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For every sibling takes advantage,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>every sibling takes advantage </b>Or “every brother is a heel-grabber”; cf. Gen. 25.26; 27.36.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Every friend deals basely.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>deals basely </b>See note at Lev. 19.16.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They all cheat each other,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will not speak truth;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have trained their tongues to speak falsely;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They wear themselves out working iniquity.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You dwell in the midst of deceit.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In their deceit,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>They wear themselves out … In their deceit </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> they refuse to heed Me<br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, I shall smelt and assay them—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For what else can I do because of My poor people?</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>For what else can I do because of My poor people? </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their tongue is a sharpened arrow,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They use their mouths to deceive.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They speak to their fellows in friendship,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But lay an ambush for them in their hearts.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall I not punish them for such deeds?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall I not bring retribution</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On such a nation as this?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the mountains I take up weeping and wailing,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the pastures in the wilderness, a dirge.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are laid waste; nobody passes through,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And no sound of cattle is heard.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Birds of the sky and beasts as well</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have fled and are gone.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will turn Jerusalem into rubble,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Into dens for jackals;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will make the towns of Judah</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A desolation without inhabitants.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is anybody so wise</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As to understand this?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To whom has </span> G<small>OD</small>’s mouth spoken,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So that it can be related:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why is the land in ruins,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Laid waste like a wilderness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With none passing through?</span><br>",
            " \nG<small>OD</small>\n replied: Because they forsook the Teaching I had set before them. They did not obey Me and they did not follow it, ",
            "but followed their own willful heart and followed the Baalim, as their ancestors had taught them. ",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to feed that people wormwood and make them drink a bitter draft. ",
            "I will scatter them among nations that they and their ancestors never knew; and I will dispatch the sword after them until I have consumed them.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Listen!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Summon the dirge-singers,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>dirge-singers </b>The Heb. term denotes women.</i> let them come;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Send for the skilled women, let them come.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let them quickly start a wailing for us,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That our eyes may run with tears,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Our pupils flow with water.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the sound of wailing</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is heard from Zion:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How we are despoiled!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How greatly we are shamed!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ah, we must leave our land,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Abandon</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Abandon </b>Lit. “They abandoned.”</i> our dwellings!",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hear, O women, the word of </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let your ears receive the divine word,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>divine word </b>Lit. “word of His mouth.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And teach your daughters wailing,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And one another lamentation.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For death has climbed through our windows,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has entered our fortresses,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To cut off babes from the streets,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Young men from the squares.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Speak thus—says </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">People’s carcasses shall lie</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like dung upon the fields,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like sheaves behind the reaper,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With none to pick them up.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let not the wise glory in their wisdom;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let not the strong glory in their strength;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let not the rich glory in their riches.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But only in this should one glory:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In being earnestly devoted to Me.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I </span> G<small>OD</small> act with kindness,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Justice, and equity in the world;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For in these I delight</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "Lo, days are coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when I will take note of everyone circumcised in the foreskin:<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>circumcised in the foreskin </b>Force of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "of Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the desert dwellers who have the hair of their temples clipped. For all these nations are uncircumcised, but all the House of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>uncircumcised of heart </b>I.e., their minds are blocked to God’s commandments.</i> "
        ],
        [
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hear the word that </span> G<small>OD</small> has spoken to you, O House of Israel!",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not learn to go the way of the nations,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And do not be dismayed by portents in the sky;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let the nations be dismayed by them!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the laws of the nations</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the laws of the nations </b>Emendation yields “the objects that the nations fear.”</i> are delusions:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For it is the work of a craftsman’s hands.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He cuts down a tree in the forest with an ax,</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He adorns it with silver and gold,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He fastens it</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>it </b>Heb. “them.”</i> with nails and hammer,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So that it does not totter.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They cannot speak.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have to be carried,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they cannot walk.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Be not afraid of them, for they can do no harm;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nor is it in them to do any good.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, there is none like You!<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You are great and Your name is great in power.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who would not revere You, O Sovereign of the nations?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For that is Your due,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Since among all the wise of the nations</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And among all their royalty</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is none like You.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But they are both dull and foolish;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">[Their] doctrine is but delusion;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>[Their] doctrine is but delusion </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is a piece of wood,</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Silver beaten flat, that is brought from Tarshish,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And gold from Uphaz,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The work of a craftsman and the goldsmith’s hands;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their clothing is blue and purple,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All of them are the product of skilled workers.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> is truly God—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A living God,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The everlasting Sovereign.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At God’s wrath, the earth quakes,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And nations cannot endure such rage.</span><br>",
            "<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\">This verse is in Aramaic.</i> Thus shall you say to them: Let the gods, who did not make heaven and earth, perish from the earth and from under these heavens.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">[God] made the earth by might,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Established the world by wisdom,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And with understanding stretched out the skies.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When [God] bellows,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>When [God] bellows </b>Lit. “At the sound of His making.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is a rumbling of water in the skies;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Vapors rise from the end of the earth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lightning accompanies the rain,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And wind is brought forth from God’s treasuries.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Every mortal is proved dull, without knowledge;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Every goldsmith is put to shame because of the idol,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For their molten images are a deceit—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is no breath in them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are delusion, a work of mockery;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In their hour of doom, they shall perish.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Not like these is the Portion of Jacob—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The One who formed all things,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With Israel as a permanent possession—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose name is </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Gather up your bundle</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>bundle </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> from the ground,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You who dwell under siege!</span><br>",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small>: I will fling away the inhabitants of the land this time: I will harass them so that they shall feel it.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>feel it </b>Emendation yields “have to leave.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Woe unto me for my hurt,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My wound is severe!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I thought, “This is but a sickness</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I must bear it.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My tents are ravaged,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All my tent cords are broken.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My children have gone forth from me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And are no more;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No one is left to stretch out my tents</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And hang my tent cloths.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the shepherds</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>shepherds </b>I.e., rulers; cf. note at 2.8.</i> are dull<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And did not seek </span> G<small>OD</small>;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore they have not prospered</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all their flock is scattered.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark, a noise! It is coming,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A great commotion out of the north,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That the towns of Judah may be made a desolation,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A haunt of jackals.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I know, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, that mortals’ road is not theirs [to choose],<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That people, as they walk, cannot direct their own steps.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Chastise me, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, but in measure;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Not in Your wrath, lest You reduce me to naught.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pour out Your wrath on the nations who have not heeded You,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Upon the clans that have not invoked Your name.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they have devoured Jacob,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have devoured and consumed him,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And have laid desolate his homesteads.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>:",
            "“Hear the terms of this covenant, and recite them to the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem! ",
            "And say to them, Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who will not obey the terms of this covenant, ",
            "which I enjoined upon your ancestors when I freed them from the land of Egypt, the iron crucible, saying, ‘Obey Me and observe them,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>them </b>I.e., the terms of the covenant.</i> just as I command you, that you may be My people and I may be your God’— ",
            "in order to fulfill the oath that I swore to your fathers,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>fathers </b>See note at Josh. 1.6.</i> to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as is now the case.” And I responded, “Amen, E<small>TERNAL</small> One.”",
            "And G<small>OD</small> said to me, “Proclaim all these things through the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the terms of this covenant, and perform them. ",
            "For I have repeatedly and persistently warned your ancestors from<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>from </b>Lit. “at.”</i> the time I brought them out of Egypt to this day, saying: Obey My commands. ",
            "But they would not listen or give ear; they all followed the willfulness of their evil hearts. So I have brought upon them all the terms<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>terms </b>I.e., the punishments prescribed for violation.</i> of this covenant, because they did not do what I commanded them to do.”",
            " \nG<small>OD</small>\n said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ",
            "They have returned to the iniquities of their ancestors of old, who refused to heed My words. They, too, have followed other gods and served them. The House of Israel and the House of Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their ancestors.”",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am going to bring upon them disaster from which they will not be able to escape. Then they will cry out to me, but I will not listen to them. ",
            "And the townspeople<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>townspeople </b>Lit. “towns.”</i> of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they sacrifice; but they will not be able to rescue them in their time of disaster. ",
            "For your gods have become as many as your towns, O Judah, and you have set up as many altars to Shame<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Shame </b>See note at 3.24.</i> as there are streets in Jerusalem—altars for sacrifice to Baal.",
            "As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf; for I will not listen when they call to Me on account of their disaster.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why should My beloved be in My House,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who executes so many vile designs?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The sacral flesh will pass away from you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For you exult while performing your evil deeds.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Who executes so many vile designs? / The sacral flesh will pass away from you, / For you exult while performing your evil deeds </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “Who does such vile deeds? / Can your treacheries be canceled by sacral flesh / That you exult while performing your evil deeds?”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> named you<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Verdant olive tree,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fair, with choice fruit.”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But with a great roaring sound</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">[God] has set it on fire,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And its boughs are broken.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>broken </b>Emendation yields “burned.”</i> ",
            " \nG<small>OD</small>\n of Hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because of the evil wrought by the House of Israel and the House of Judah, who angered Me by sacrificing to Baal.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> informed me, and I knew—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then You let me see their deeds.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I was like a docile lamb</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Led to the slaughter;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I did not realize</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That it was against me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They fashioned their plots:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>fruit </b>Or “sap.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let us cut him off from the land of the living.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That his name be remembered no more!”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, O just Judge,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who test the thoughts and the mind,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let me see Your retribution upon them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I lay my case before You.</span><br>",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts concerning the people of Anathoth<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>people of Anathoth </b>I.e., the local leaders, authorized to act on the town’s behalf.</i> who seek your life and say, “You must not prophesy anymore in the name of G<small>OD</small>, or you will die by our hand”— ",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts: “I am going to deal with them: the young men shall die by the sword, their boys and girls shall die by famine. ",
            "No remnant shall be left of them, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>people of Anathoth </b>See note at v. 21.</i> the year of their doom.”"
        ],
        [
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You will win,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>win </b>Lit. “be in the right.”</i> O E<small>TERNAL</small> One, if I make claim against You,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet I shall present charges against You:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why does the way of the wicked prosper?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why are the workers of treachery at ease?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You have planted them, and they have taken root,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They spread, they even bear fruit.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You are present in their mouths,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But far from their thoughts.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet You, </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, have noted and observed me;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You have tested my heart, and found it with You.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Drive them out like sheep to the slaughter,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Prepare them for the day of slaying!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How long must the land languish,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the grass of all the countryside dry up?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Must beasts and birds perish,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of the evil of its inhabitants,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who say, “[God] will not look upon our future”?</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>future </b>Septuagint reads “ways.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\">God here replies to Jeremiah’s plea in vv. 1–3.</i> </span>If you race with the foot-runners and they exhaust you,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How then can you compete with horses?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If you are secure only</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>secure only </b>Some Septuagint mss. read “not secure.”</i> in a tranquil land,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How will you fare in the jungle of the Jordan?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For even your own kin and your father’s house—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Even they are treacherous toward you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They cry after you as a mob.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not believe them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When they speak cordially to you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have abandoned My House,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have deserted My possession,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have given over My dearly beloved</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Into the hands of her enemies.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My own people</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>people </b>Lit. “possession”; the land as well as the people, as is clear in v. 14.</i> acted toward Me<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a lion in the forest;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She raised her voice against Me—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore I have rejected her.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My own people acts toward Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a bird of prey [or] a hyena;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let the birds of prey surround her!</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>My own people … surround her </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Go, gather all the wild beasts,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Bring them to devour!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have trampled My field,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have made My delightful field</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A desolate wilderness.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>They have </b>Heb. “He has.”</i> made her a desolation;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Desolate, she pours out grief to Me.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The whole land is laid desolate,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But nobody gives it thought.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Spoilers have come</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Upon all the bare heights of the wilderness.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For a sword of </span> G<small>OD</small> devours<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From one end of the land to the other;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No flesh is safe.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have sown wheat and reaped thorns,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have endured pain to no avail.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Be shamed, then, by your harvest—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By G<small>OD</small>’s blazing wrath!",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: As for My wicked neighbors who encroach on the heritage that I gave to My people Israel—I am going to uproot them from their soil, and I will uproot the House of Judah out of the midst of them. ",
            "Then, after I have uprooted them, I will take them back into favor, and restore them all to their own inheritance and their own land. ",
            "And if they learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name—“As G<small>OD</small> lives”—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>built up in the midst of </b>Or “incorporated into.”</i> My people. ",
            "But if they do not give heed, I will tear out that nation, tear it out and destroy it—declares G<small>OD</small>."
        ],
        [
            "Thus G<small>OD</small> said to me: “Go buy yourself a loincloth of linen, and put it around your loins, but do not dip it into water.” ",
            "So I bought the loincloth in accordance with G<small>OD</small>’s command, and put it about my loins. ",
            "And the word of G<small>OD</small> came to me a second time:",
            "“Take the loincloth that you bought, which is about your loins, and go at once to Perath<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Perath </b>Or “the Euphrates”; cf. “Parah,” Josh. 18.23.</i> and cover it up there in a cleft of the rock.” ",
            "I went and buried it at Perath, as G<small>OD</small> had commanded me. ",
            "Then, after a long time, G<small>OD</small> said to me, “Go at once to Perath and take there the loincloth that I commanded you to bury there.” ",
            "So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth from the place where I had buried it; and found the loincloth ruined; it was not good for anything.",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to me:",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Even so will I ruin the overweening pride of Judah and Jerusalem.",
            "This wicked people who refuse to heed My bidding, who follow the willfulness of their own hearts, who follow other gods and serve them and worship them, shall become like that loincloth, which is not good for anything. ",
            "For as a loincloth clings close to a man’s loins, so I brought close to Me the whole House of Israel and the whole House of Judah—declares G<small>OD</small> —that they might be My people, for fame, and praise, and splendor. But they would not obey.",
            "And speak this word to them: Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel: “Every jar should be filled with wine.” And when they say to you, “Don’t we know that every jar should be filled with wine?” ",
            "say to them, “Thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am going to fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on the throne of David, and the priests and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ",
            "And I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike—declares G<small>OD</small>; no pity, compassion, or mercy will stop Me from destroying them.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Attend and give ear; be not haughty,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> has spoken.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Give honor to </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before darkness descends,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before your feet stumble</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On the mountains in shadow—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When you hope for light,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And it is turned to darkness</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And becomes deep gloom.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For if you will not give heed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My inmost self must weep,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of your arrogance;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My eye must stream and flow</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With copious tears,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because G<small>OD</small>’s flock</span> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is taken captive.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Say to the king and the queen mother,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Sit in a lowly spot;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For your diadems are abased,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your glorious crowns.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The cities of the Negeb are shut,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is no one to open them;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Judah is exiled completely,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All of it exiled.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Judah is exiled completely, / All of it exiled </b>I.e., most of Judah has been annexed by an alien people.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Raise your eyes and behold</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those who come from the north:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Where are the sheep entrusted to you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The flock you took pride in?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">What will you say when they appoint as your heads</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those among you whom you trained to be tame?</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>What will you say … to be tame? </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall not pangs seize you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a woman in childbirth?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And when you ask yourself,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Why have these things befallen me?”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is because of your great iniquity</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That your skirts are lifted up,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your limbs exposed.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Can the Cushites</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Cushites </b>People of Cush, the region south of Egypt.</i> change their skin,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Or leopards their spots?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Just as much can you do good,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who are practiced in doing evil!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So I will scatter you</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>you </b>Heb. “them.”</i> like straw that flies<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before the desert wind.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">This shall be your lot,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your measured portion from Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because you forgot Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And trusted in falsehood,</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I in turn will lift your skirts over your face</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And your shame shall be seen.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I behold your adulteries,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your lustful neighing,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your unbridled depravity, your vile acts</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On the hills of the countryside.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Woe to you, O Jerusalem,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who will not be pure!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How much longer shall it be?</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Judah is in mourning,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her settlements languish.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are bowed to the ground,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the outcry of Jerusalem rises.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their nobles sent their servants for water;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They came to the cisterns, they found no water.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They returned, their vessels empty.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are shamed and humiliated,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They cover their heads.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of the ground there is dismay,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Because of the ground there is dismay </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For there has been no rain on the earth.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The plowers are shamed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They cover their heads.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Even the hind in the field</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Forsakes her newborn fawn,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because there is no grass.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the wild asses stand on the bare heights,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Snuffing the air like jackals;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their eyes pine,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because there is no herbage.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though our iniquities testify against us,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Act, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, for the sake of Your name;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though our rebellions are many</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And we have sinned against You.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O Hope of Israel,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Its deliverer in time of trouble,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why are You like a stranger in the land,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a traveler who stops only for the night?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why are You like a man who is stunned,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>stunned </b>Or “impaired.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a warrior who cannot give victory?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet You are in our midst, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And Your name is attached to us—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not forsake us!</span><br>",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning this people: “Truly, they love to stray, they have not restrained their feet; so G<small>OD</small> has no pleasure in them. Now their iniquity will be recalled—and their sin punished.”",
            "And G<small>OD</small> said to me, “Do not pray for the benefit of this people. ",
            "When they fast, I will not listen to their outcry; and when they present burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. I will exterminate them by war, famine, and disease.”",
            "I said, “Ah, my Sovereign G<small>OD</small> ! The prophets are saying to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, famine shall not come upon you, but I will give you unfailing security in this place.’”",
            " \nG<small>OD</small>\n replied: It is a lie that the prophets utter in My name. I have not sent them or commanded them. I have not spoken to them. A lying vision, an empty divination, the deceit of their own contriving—that is what they prophesy to you! ",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name though I have not sent them, and who say, “Sword and famine shall not befall this land”; those very prophets shall perish by sword and famine. ",
            "And the assembly to whom they prophesy shall be left lying in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, with none to bury them—they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out upon them [the requital of] their wickedness.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And do you speak to them thus:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let my eyes run with tears,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Day and night let them not cease,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For my hapless people</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>my hapless people </b>Lit. “the maiden daughter, My people.”</i> has suffered<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A grievous injury, a very painful wound.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If I go out to the country—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, the slain of the sword.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If I enter the city—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, those who are sick with</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>those who are sick with </b>Lit. “the sicknesses of.”</i> famine.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Both priest and prophet roam</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>roam </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> the land,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They know not where.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have You, then, rejected Judah?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have You spurned Zion?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why have You smitten us</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So that there is no cure?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why do we hope for happiness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But find no good;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For a time of healing,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And meet terror instead?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">We acknowledge our wickedness, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The iniquity of our ancestors—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For we have sinned against You.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For Your name’s sake, do not disown us;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not dishonor Your glorious throne.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Remember, do not annul Your covenant with us.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Can any of the false gods of the nations give rain?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Can the skies of themselves give showers?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Only You can, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One our God!<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So we hope in You,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For only You made all these things.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            " \nG<small>OD</small>\n said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were to intercede with Me,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>intercede with Me </b>Lit. “stand before Me,” as Jeremiah is doing now; cf. 18.20.</i> I would not be won over to that people. Dismiss them from My presence, and let them go forth! ",
            "And if they ask you, ‘To what shall we go forth?’ answer them, ‘Thus said G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those destined for the plague, to the plague;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those destined for the sword, to the sword;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those destined for famine, to famine;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those destined for captivity, to captivity.</span><br>",
            "And I will appoint over them four kinds<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>kinds </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> [of punishment]—declares G<small>OD</small> —the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the sky, and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ",
            "I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, on account of King Manasseh son of Hezekiah of Judah, and of what he did in Jerusalem.’”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But who will pity you, O Jerusalem,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who will console you?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who will turn aside to inquire</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">About your welfare?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You cast Me off</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You go ever backward.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So I have stretched out My hand to destroy you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I cannot relent.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will scatter them as with a winnowing fork</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Through the settlements of the earth.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will bereave, I will destroy My people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they would not turn back from their ways.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their widows shall be more numerous</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Than the sands of the seas.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will bring against them—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Young men and mothers together</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Young men and mothers together </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A destroyer at noonday.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will bring down suddenly upon them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Alarm</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Alarm </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> and terror.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She who bore seven is forlorn,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Utterly disconsolate;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her sun has set while it is still day,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She is shamed and humiliated.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The remnant of them I will deliver to the sword,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To the power of their enemies</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A man of conflict and strife with all the land!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have not lent,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I have not borrowed;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet everyone curses me.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> said:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely, a mere remnant of you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Will I spare for a better fate!</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Surely … better fate </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By the enemy from the north</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>from the north </b>Moved up from v. 12 for clarity.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In a time of distress and a time of disaster,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely, I will have you struck down!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Can iron break iron and bronze?</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Can iron break iron and bronze? </b>Emendation yields “[God] shall shatter iron—iron and bronze!”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will hand over your wealth and your treasures</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As a spoil, free of charge,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of all your sins throughout your territory.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will bring your enemies</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By way of a land you have not known.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I will hand over … you have not known </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For a fire has flared in My wrath,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It blazes against you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, you know—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Remember me and take thought of me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Avenge me on those who persecute me;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not yield to Your patience,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not let me perish!</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Do not let me perish </b>Lit. “Do not take me away.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Consider how I have borne insult</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On Your account.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When Your words were offered, I devoured them;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your word brought me the delight and joy</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of knowing that Your name is attached to me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, God of Hosts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have not sat in the company of revelers</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And made merry!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have sat lonely because of Your hand upon me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For You have filled me with gloom.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why must my pain be endless,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My wound incurable,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Resistant to healing?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You have been to me like a spring that fails,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like waters that cannot be relied on.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If you turn back, I shall take you back</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And you shall stand before Me;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If you produce what is noble</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Out of the worthless,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You shall be My spokesman.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall come back to you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Not you to them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against this people I will make you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As a fortified wall of bronze:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will attack you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But they shall not overcome you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am with you to deliver and save you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will save you from the hands of the wicked</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And rescue you from the clutches of the violent.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to me:",
            "You are not to marry and not to have sons and daughters in this place.",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning any sons and daughters that may be born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bear them, and concerning the fathers who beget them in this land: ",
            "They shall die gruesome deaths. They shall not be lamented or buried; they shall be like dung on the surface of the ground. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not enter a house of mourning,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>mourning </b>Lit. “religious gathering.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not go to lament and to condole with them;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I have withdrawn My favor from that people</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My kindness and compassion.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Great and small alike shall die in this land,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall not be buried; no one shall lament them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nor gash and tonsure themselves for them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall not break bread</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>bread </b>So a few mss. Most mss. and editions read “to them.”</i> for a mourner<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>mourner </b>Lit. “mourning.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To offer comfort for a death,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nor offer one a cup of consolation</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the loss of their father or mother.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nor shall you enter a house of feasting,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To sit down with them to eat and drink.</span><br>",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to banish from this place, in your days and before your eyes, the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride.",
            "And when you announce all these things to that people, and they ask you, “Why has G<small>OD</small> decreed upon us all this fearful evil? What is the iniquity and what the sin that we have committed against the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God?” ",
            "say to them, “Because your ancestors deserted Me—declares G<small>OD</small> —and followed other gods and served them and worshiped them; they deserted Me and did not keep My Instruction. ",
            "And you have acted worse than your ancestors, every one of you following the willfulness of their own evil heart and paying no heed to Me. ",
            "Therefore I will hurl you out of this land to a land that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods, day and night; for I will show you no mercy.”",
            "Assuredly, a time is coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when it shall no more be said, “As G<small>OD</small> lives who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt,” ",
            "but rather, “As G<small>OD</small> lives who brought the Israelites out of the northland, and out of all the lands to which they had been banished.” For I will bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, I am sending for many fishermen</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they shall haul them out;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And after that I will send for many hunters,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they shall hunt them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Out of every mountain and out of every hill</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And out of the clefts of the rocks.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For My eyes are on all their ways,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are not hidden from My presence,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their iniquity is not concealed from My sight.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will pay them in full</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>full </b>See note to Isa. 65.7.</i> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nay, doubly for their iniquity and their sins—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because they have defiled My land</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With the corpses of their abominations,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>their abominations </b>I.e., their lifeless idols.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And have filled My own possession</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With their abhorrent things.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, my strength and my stronghold,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My refuge in a day of trouble,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To You nations shall come</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the ends of the earth and say:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Our ancestors inherited utter delusions,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Things that are futile and worthless.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Can mortals make gods for themselves?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No-gods are they!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, I will teach them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Once and for all I will teach them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My power and My might.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they shall learn that My name is </span> G<small>OD</small>."
        ],
        [
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The guilt of Judah is inscribed</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With a stylus of iron,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Engraved with an adamant point</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On the tablet of their hearts,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And on the horns of their altars,</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">While their children remember</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>And on the horns of their altars, / While their children remember </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “Surely the horns of their altars / Are as a memorial against them.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their altars and sacred posts,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>sacred posts </b>Used in worship of the goddess Asherah.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By verdant trees,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Upon lofty hills.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\">Meaning of verse uncertain.</i> </span>Because of the sin of your shrines<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Throughout your borders,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will make your rampart a heap in the field,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all your treasures a spoil.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You will forfeit,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>You will forfeit </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “Your hand must let go.”</i> by your own act,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The inheritance I have given you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will make you a slave to your enemies</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In a land you have never known.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For you have kindled the flame of My wrath</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That shall burn for all time.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Cursed is the man who trusts in mortals,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who makes mere flesh his strength,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And turns his thoughts from </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He shall be like a bush</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>bush </b>Or “tamarisk”; exact meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> in the desert,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Which does not sense the coming of good:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is set in the scorched places of the wilderness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In a barren land without inhabitant.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Blessed is the man who trusts in </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose trust is </span> G<small>OD</small> alone.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He shall be like a tree planted by waters,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Sending forth its roots by a stream:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It does not sense the coming of heat,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Its leaves are ever fresh;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It has no care in a year of drought,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It does not cease to yield fruit.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Most devious is the heart;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is perverse—who can fathom it?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I </span> G<small>OD</small> probe the heart,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Search the mind—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To repay each person according to their own ways,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With the proper fruit of their deeds.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a partridge hatching what she did not lay</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Like a partridge hatching what she did not lay </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Or “Like a partridge brooding what does not hatch.” Typically, the partridge lays many eggs on open ground, few of which survive.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So are those who amass wealth by unjust means;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In mid-life it will leave them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And in the end they will be proved fools.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O Throne of Glory exalted from of old,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Our Sacred Shrine!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O Hope of Israel! O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One !<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All who forsake You shall be put to shame,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those in the land who turn from You</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>You </b>Lit. “Me.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall be doomed,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>doomed </b>Lit. “inscribed”; meaning of line uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they have forsaken </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The Fount of living waters.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Heal me, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, and let me be healed;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Save me, and let me be saved;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For You are my glory.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, they say to me:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Where is G<small>OD</small>’s prediction?<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let it come to pass!”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I have not evaded</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Being a shepherd in your service,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>evaded / Being a shepherd in your service </b>Exact force of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “urged you to [bring] misfortune.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nor have I longed for the fatal day.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You know the utterances of my lips,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They were ever before You.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not be a cause of dismay to me;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You are my refuge in a day of calamity.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let my persecutors be shamed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And let not me be shamed;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let them be dismayed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And let not me be dismayed.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Bring on them the day of disaster,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And shatter them with double destruction.</span><br>",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> to me: Go and stand in the People’s Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go forth, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, ",
            "and say to them: Hear the word of G<small>OD</small>, O kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates!",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Guard yourselves for your own sake against carrying burdens<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>burdens </b>Or “merchandise.”</i> on the sabbath day, and bringing them through the gates of Jerusalem. ",
            "Nor shall you carry out burdens from your houses on the sabbath day, or do any work, but you shall hallow the sabbath day, as I commanded your ancestors. ",
            "(But they would not listen or turn their ear; they stiffened their necks and would not pay heed or accept discipline.)",
            "If you obey Me—declares G<small>OD</small> —and do not bring in burdens through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day and do no work on it, ",
            "then through the gates of this city shall enter kings who sit upon the throne of David, with their officers—riding on chariots and horses, they and their officers—and the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited for all time. ",
            "And people shall come from the towns of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the Shephelah, and from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing offerings of thanksgiving to the House of G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "But if you do not obey My command to hallow the sabbath day and to carry in no burdens through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will set fire to its gates; it shall consume the fortresses of Jerusalem and it shall not be extinguished."
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>:",
            "“Go down to the house of a potter, and there I will impart My words to you.” ",
            "So I went down to the house of a potter, and found him working at the wheel. ",
            "And if the vessel he was making was spoiled, as happens to clay in the potter’s hands,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>And if the vessel he was making was spoiled, as happens to clay in the potter’s hands </b>So some mss. and one early edition. Most mss. and editions read “And if the vessel that he was making with clay in the potter’s hands was spoiled.”</i> he would make it into another vessel, such as the potter saw fit to make.",
            "Then the word of G<small>OD</small> came to me:",
            "O House of Israel, can I not deal with you like this potter?—says G<small>OD</small>. Just like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in My hands, O House of Israel! ",
            "At one moment I may decree that a nation or a kingdom shall be uprooted and pulled down and destroyed;",
            "but if that nation against which I made the decree turns back from its wickedness, I change My mind concerning the punishment I planned to bring on it. ",
            "At another moment I may decree that a nation or a kingdom shall be built and planted;",
            "but if it does what is displeasing to Me and does not obey Me, then I change My mind concerning the good I planned to bestow upon it.",
            "And now, say to the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am devising<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>devising </b>The same Hebrew word as is used above for “potter.”</i> disaster for you and laying plans against you. Turn back, each of you, from your wicked ways, and mend your ways and your actions! ",
            "But they will say, “It is no use. We will keep on following our own plans; each of us will act in the willfulness of our own evil heart.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Inquire among the nations:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who has heard anything like this?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Maiden Israel has done</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A most horrible thing.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\">Meaning of verse uncertain; cf. 2.13; 17.13.</i> </span>Does one forsake Lebanon snow<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the mountainous rocks?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Does one abandon cool water</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flowing from afar?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet My people have forgotten Me:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They sacrifice to a delusion:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are made to stumble in their ways—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The ancient paths—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And to walk instead on byways,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On a road not built up.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So their land will become a desolation,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">An object of hissing for all time.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Every passerby will be appalled</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And will shake their head.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hissing…shake their head </b>Observers of ruin performed these actions, to ward off a like fate for themselves; cf. Lam. 2.15.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like the east wind, I will scatter them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before the enemy.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will look upon their back, not their face,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I will look upon their back, not their face </b>Change of vocalization yields “I will show them [My] back and not [My] face.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In their day of disaster.</span><br>",
            "They said,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>They said </b>Cf. 20.10.</i> “Come let us devise a plot against Jeremiah—for instruction shall not fail from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor oracle from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and we shall no longer have to listen to all those words of his.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Listen to me, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And take note of what my enemies say!</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>what my enemies say </b>Emendation yields “my case.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Should good be repaid with evil?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet they have dug a pit for me.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Remember how I stood before You</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To plead in their behalf,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To turn Your anger away from them!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Oh, give their children over to famine,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Mow them down by the sword.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let their wives be bereaved</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of children and husbands,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let their men</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>their men </b>I.e., their subordinates.</i> be struck down by the plague,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And their young men be slain in battle by the sword.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let an outcry be heard from their houses</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When You bring sudden marauders against them;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they have dug a pit to trap me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And laid snares for my feet.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, You know<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All their plots to kill me.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not pardon their iniquity,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not blot out their guilt from Your presence.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let them be made to stumble before You—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Act against them in Your hour of wrath!</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Go buy a jug of potter’s ware. And [take] some of the elders of the people and the priests, ",
            "and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom—at the entrance of the Harsith Gate<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>at the entrance of the Harsith Gate </b>In contrast to others “by way of the Potsherd Gate”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> —and proclaim there the words that I will speak to you.",
            "Say: “Hear the word of G<small>OD</small>, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such disaster upon this place that the ears of all who hear about it will tingle. ",
            "For they and their ancestors and the kings of Judah have forsaken Me, and have made this place alien [to Me]; they have sacrificed in it to other gods whom they have not experienced,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>experienced </b>See note at Deut. 11.28.</i> and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. ",
            "They have built shrines to Baal, to put their children to the fire as burnt offerings to Baal—which I never commanded, never decreed, and which never came to My mind. ",
            "Assuredly, a time is coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when this place shall no longer be called Topheth or Valley of Ben-hinnom, but Valley of Slaughter.",
            "“And I will frustrate<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>frustrate </b>Lit. “empty,” Heb. <i>u-baqqothi</i>, a play on <i>baqbuq</i>, “jug” in v. 1.</i> the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who seek their lives; and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. ",
            "And I will make this city an object of horror and hissing;<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hissing </b>See note at 18.16.</i> everyone who passes by it will be appalled and will hiss over all its wounds. ",
            "And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall devour one another’s flesh—because of the desperate straits to which they will be reduced by their enemies, who seek their life.”",
            "Then you shall smash the jug in the sight of those who go with you, ",
            "and say to them: “Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts: So will I smash this people and this city, as one smashes a potter’s vessel, which can never be mended. And they shall bury in Topheth until no room is left for burying. ",
            "That is what I will do to this place and its inhabitants—declares G<small>OD</small>. I will make this city like Topheth:",
            "the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be impure, like that place Topheth—all the houses on the roofs of which offerings were made to the whole host of heaven and libations were poured out to other gods.”",
            "When Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where G<small>OD</small> had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the House of G<small>OD</small> and said to all the people: ",
            "“Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring upon this city and upon all its villages all the disaster that I have decreed against it, for they have stiffened their necks and refused to heed My words.”"
        ],
        [
            "Pashhur son of Immer, the priest who was chief officer of the House of G<small>OD</small>, heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. ",
            "Pashhur thereupon had Jeremiah flogged and put in the cell<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>cell </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the House of G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "The next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah from the cell.<br>But Jeremiah said to him, “G<small>OD</small> has named you not Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Magor-missabib </b>I.e., “Terror all around”; cf. v. 10.</i> ",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am going to deliver you and all your friends over to terror: they will fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. I will deliver all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon; he will exile them to Babylon or put them to the sword.",
            "And I will deliver all the wealth, all the riches, and all the prized possessions of this city, and I will also deliver all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hands of their enemies: they shall seize them as plunder and carry them off to Babylon. ",
            "As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you shall go into captivity. You shall come to Babylon; there you shall die and there you shall be buried, and so shall all your friends to whom you prophesied falsely.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You enticed me, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, and I was enticed;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You overpowered me and You prevailed.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have become a constant laughingstock,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Everyone jeers at me.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For every time I speak, I must cry out,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Must shout, “Lawlessness and rapine!”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the word of </span> G<small>OD</small> causes me<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Constant disgrace and contempt.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I thought, “I will not mention it,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No more will I speak in God’s name”—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But [the divine word] was like a raging fire in my heart,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shut up in my bones;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I could not hold it in, I was helpless.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I heard the whispers of the crowd—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Terror all around:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Inform! Let us inform against him!”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All my [supposed] friends</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Are waiting for me to stumble:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Perhaps he can be entrapped,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And we can prevail against him</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And take our vengeance on him.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But </span> G<small>OD</small> is with me like a mighty warrior;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore my persecutors shall stumble;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall not prevail and shall not succeed.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall be utterly shamed</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With a humiliation for all time,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Which shall not be forgotten.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, You who test the righteous,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who examine the heart and the mind,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let me see Your retribution upon them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I lay my case before You.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Sing unto </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Praise </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who has rescued the needy</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the hands of evildoers!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Accursed be the day</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That I was born!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let not the day be blessed</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When my mother bore me!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Accursed be the man</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who brought my father the news</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And said, “A boy</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is born to you,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And gave him such joy!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let that man become like the cities</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the cities </b>I.e., Sodom and Gomorrah; cf. Gen. 19.24–25.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That </span> G<small>OD</small> overthrew without relenting!<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let him hear shrieks in the morning</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And battle shouts at noontide—</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because [God]</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>[God] </b>Or “he,” i.e., the message-bearer of vv. 15–16.</i> did not kill me before birth<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So that my mother might be my grave,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And her womb big [with me] for all time.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why did I ever issue from the womb,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To see misery and woe,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To spend all my days in shame!</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small> —when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah and the priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, to say, ",
            "“Please inquire of G<small>OD</small> on our behalf, for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps G<small>OD</small> will act for our sake in accordance with all the prior<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the prior </b>Lit. “His.”</i> wonders, so that he will withdraw from us.”",
            "Jeremiah answered them, “Thus shall you say to Zedekiah: ",
            "Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel: I am going to turn around the weapons in your hands with which you are battling outside the wall against those who are besieging you—the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans—and I will take them into the midst of this city; ",
            "and I Myself will battle against you with an outstretched mighty arm, with anger and rage and great wrath. ",
            "I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both human and animal: they shall die by a terrible pestilence. ",
            "And then—declares G<small>OD</small> —I will deliver King Zedekiah of Judah and his courtiers and the people—those in this city who survive the pestilence, the sword, and the famine—into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword without pity, without compassion, without mercy.",
            "“And to this people you shall say: Thus said G<small>OD</small>: I set before you the way of life and the way of death.",
            "Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but whoever leaves and goes over to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live; he shall at least gain his life.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>he shall at least gain his life </b>Lit. “he shall have his life as booty.”</i> ",
            "For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good—declares G<small>OD</small>. It shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it by fire.”",
            "To the House of the king of Judah: Hear the word of G<small>OD</small> !",
            "O House of David, thus said G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Render just verdicts</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Morning by morning;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Rescue from the defrauder</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Anyone who is robbed.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Else My wrath will break forth like fire</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And burn, with none to quench it,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of your wicked acts.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will deal with you, O inhabitants of the valley,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O rock of the plain</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>O inhabitants of the valley, / O rock of the plain </b>Force of Heb. uncertain.</i> —declares G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You who say, “Who can come down against us?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who can get into our lairs?”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will punish you according to your deeds</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will set fire to its forest;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>forest </b>Perhaps a reference to the royal palace; cf. 1 Kings 7.2.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It shall consume all that is around it.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Go down to the palace of the king of Judah, where you shall utter this word. ",
            "Say: “Hear the word of G<small>OD</small>: O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, and your courtiers and your subjects who enter these gates! ",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Do what is just and right; rescue from the defrauder anyone who is robbed; do not wrong the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; commit no lawless act, and do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place. ",
            "For if you fulfill this command, then through the gates of this palace shall enter kings of David’s line who sit upon his throne, riding horse-drawn chariots, with their courtiers and their subjects. ",
            "But if you do not heed these commands, I swear by Myself—declares G<small>OD</small> —that this palace shall become a ruin.”",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning the royal palace of Judah:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You are as Gilead to Me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As the summit of Lebanon;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I will make you a desert,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Uninhabited towns.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will appoint destroyers against you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Each with his tools;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall cut down your choicest cedars</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And make them fall into the fire.</span><br>",
            "And when many nations pass by this city and people ask one another, “Why did G<small>OD</small> do thus to that great city?” ",
            "the reply will be, “Because they forsook the covenant with the E<small>TERNAL</small> their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not weep for the dead</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the dead </b>I.e., Josiah; see 2 Kings 23.29–30.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And do not lament for him;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Weep rather for him who is leaving,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>him who is leaving </b>I.e., the king called by his throne name Jehoahaz in 2 Kings 23.31ff., and by his private name Shallum here in v. 11 and in 1 Chron. 3.15.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For he shall never come back</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To see the land of his birth!</span><br>",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning Shallum<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Shallum </b>See the second note at v. 10.</i> son of King Josiah of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah as king, but who has gone forth from this place: He shall never come back. ",
            "He shall die in the place to which he was exiled, and he shall not see this land again.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ha! He</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>He </b>Presumably Jehoiakim son of King Josiah; cf. v. 18.</i> who builds his house with unfairness<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And his upper chambers with injustice,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who makes his neighbors work without pay</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And does not give them their wages,</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who thinks: I will build me a vast palace</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With spacious upper chambers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Provided with windows,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Paneled in cedar,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Painted with vermilion!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do you think you are more a king</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because you compete in cedar?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your father ate and drank</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>ate and drank </b>I.e., he was content with the simple necessities of life.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And dispensed justice and equity—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then all went well with him.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He upheld the rights of the poor and needy—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then all was well.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That is truly heeding Me</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>That is truly heeding Me </b>Or “That is the reward for heeding Me.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But your eyes and your mind are only</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On ill-gotten gains,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On shedding the blood of the innocent,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On committing fraud and violence.</span><br>",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall not mourn for him,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Ah, brother! Ah, sister!”</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Ah, brother … sister </b>Typical expressions of sorrow at the loss of a relative.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall not mourn for him,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Ah, lord! Ah, his majesty!”</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Ah, lord … majesty </b>Typical expressions of sorrow at the death of a ruler.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He shall have the burial of a donkey,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Dragged out and left lying</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Outside the gates of Jerusalem.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\">Israel is addressed.</i> </span>Climb Lebanon and cry out,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Raise your voice in Bashan,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Cry out from Abarim,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For all your lovers are crushed.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I spoke to you when you were prosperous;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You said, “I will not listen.”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That was your way ever since your youth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You would not heed Me.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All your shepherds</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>shepherds </b>Change of vocalization yields “paramours.”</i> shall be devoured by the wind,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And your lovers shall go into captivity.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then you shall be shamed and humiliated</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of all your depravity.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You who dwell in Lebanon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nestled among the cedars,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How much grace will you have</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>How much grace will you have </b>Septuagint reads “How you will groan.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When pains come upon you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Travail as in childbirth!</span><br>",
            "As I live—declares G<small>OD</small> —if you, O King Coniah,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>if you, O King Coniah </b>Heb. 3rd person. Coniah (Jeconiah in 24.1) is identical with Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 24.8ff.</i> son of Jehoiakim, of Judah, were a signet on my right hand, I would tear you off even from there. ",
            "I will deliver you into the hands of those who seek your life, into the hands of those you dread, into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans. ",
            "I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another land, where you were not born; there you shall both die. ",
            "They shall not return to the land that they yearn to come back to.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is this man Coniah</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A wretched broken pot,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A vessel no one wants?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why are he and his offspring hurled out,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And cast away in a land they knew not?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O land, land, land,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hear the word of </span> G<small>OD</small> !",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Record this man as without succession,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">One who shall never be found acceptable;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For none of his offspring shall be accepted</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To sit on the throne of David</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And to rule again in Judah.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "Ah, shepherds who let the flock of My pasture stray and scatter!—declares G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "Assuredly, thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who should tend My people: It is you who let My flock scatter and go astray. You gave no thought to them, but I am going to give thought to you, for your wicked acts—declares G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "And I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will bring them back to their pasture, where they shall be fertile and increase. ",
            "And I will appoint over them shepherds who will tend them; they shall no longer fear or be dismayed, and none of them shall be missing—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "See, a time is coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when I will raise up a true branch of David’s line. He shall reign as king and shall prosper, and he shall do what is just and right in the land. ",
            "In his days Judah shall be delivered and Israel shall dwell secure. And this is the name by which he shall be called: “G<small>OD</small> is our Vindicator.”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>G<small>OD</small> is our Vindicator </b>Heb. <i>Yhwh ṣidqenu</i>. Presumably a play on the name of King Zedekiah.</i> ",
            "Assuredly, a time is coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when it shall no more be said, “As G<small>OD</small> lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt,” ",
            "but rather, “As G<small>OD</small> lives, who brought out and led the offspring of the House of Israel from the northland and from all the lands to which I have banished them.” And they shall dwell upon their own soil.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Concerning the prophets.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My heart is crushed within me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All my bones are trembling;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>trembling </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have become like someone drunk,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like one overcome by wine—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of </span> G<small>OD</small> and because of God’s holy word.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the land is full of adulterers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The land mourns because of a curse;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a curse </b>A few Heb. mss. and Septuagint read “these.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The pastures of the wilderness are dried up.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they run to do evil,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They strain to do wrong.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>For they run to do evil, / They strain to do wrong </b>Lit. “Their running is wickedness, / Their straining is iniquity.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For both prophet and priest are godless;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Even in My House I find their wickedness</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their path shall become</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like slippery ground;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall be thrust into darkness</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And there they shall fall;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I will bring disaster upon them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The year of their doom</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In the prophets of Samaria</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I saw a repulsive thing:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They prophesied by Baal</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And led My people Israel astray.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But what I see in the prophets of Jerusalem</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is something horrifying:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Adultery and false dealing.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They encourage evildoers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So that no one turns back from their own wickedness.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To Me they are all like Sodom,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And [all] its inhabitants like Gomorrah.</span><br>",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts concerning the prophets:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I am going to make them eat wormwood</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And drink a bitter draft;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For from the prophets of Jerusalem</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Godlessness has gone forth to the whole land.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not listen to the words of the prophets</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who prophesy to you.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are deluding you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The prophecies they speak are from their own minds,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Not from the mouth of </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They declare to those who despise Me:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">  G<small>OD</small>  </span> has said:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“All shall be well with you”;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And to all who follow their willful hearts they say:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“No evil shall befall you.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But he who has stood in G<small>OD</small>’s council,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And seen, and heard God’s word—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He who has listened to that word must obey.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>obey </b>Change of vocalization yields “announce it”; cf. vv. 22, 28.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, G<small>OD</small>’s storm goes forth in fury,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A whirling storm,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It shall whirl down upon the heads of the wicked.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The anger of </span> G<small>OD</small> shall not turn back<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Till it has fulfilled and completed God’s purposes.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Lo, G<small>OD</small>’s storm … completed God’s purposes </b>The word of God that Jeremiah referred to in v. 18.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In the days to come</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You shall clearly perceive it.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I did not send those prophets,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But they rushed in;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I did not speak to them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yet they prophesied.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If they have stood in My council,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let them announce My words to My people</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And make them turn back</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From their evil ways and wicked acts.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Am I only a God near at hand</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And not a God far away?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If somebody enters a hiding place,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do I not see them?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I fill both heaven and earth</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "I have heard what the prophets say, who prophesy falsely in My name: “I had a dream, I had a dream.” ",
            "How long will there be<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>How long will there be </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood—the prophets of their own deceitful minds— ",
            "the plan to make My people forget My name, by means of the dreams that they tell each other, just as their ancestors forgot My name because of Baal? ",
            "Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream; and let the one who has received My word report My word faithfully! How can straw be compared to grain?—says G<small>OD</small>.",
            "Behold, My word is like fire—declares G<small>OD</small> —and like a hammer that shatters rock!",
            "Assuredly, I am going to deal with the prophets—declares G<small>OD</small> —who steal My words from one another. ",
            "I am going to deal with the prophets—declares G<small>OD</small> —who wag<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>wag </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> their tongues and make oracular utterances. ",
            "I am going to deal with those who prophesy lying dreams—declares G<small>OD</small> —who relate them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies, when I did not send them or command them. They do this people no good—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "And when this people—or a prophet or a priest—asks you, “What is the burden<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>burden </b>I.e., pronouncement; cf. Isa. 13.1; 15.1, etc., where the word rendered “pronouncement” can also mean “burden.”</i> of G<small>OD</small> ?” you shall answer them, “What is the burden?<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>What is the burden </b>Septuagint and other versions read “You are the burden!”</i> I will cast you off”—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "As for the prophet or priest or layperson who shall say “the burden of G<small>OD</small>,” I will punish them and their household. ",
            "Thus you shall all speak to your neighbors and to your kin, “What has G<small>OD</small> answered?” or “What has G<small>OD</small> spoken?” ",
            "But do not mention “the burden of G<small>OD</small> ” anymore. Does anyone regard their own word as a “burden,”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Does anyone regard their own word as a “burden” </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> that you pervert the words of the living God, G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, our God? ",
            "Thus you shall speak to the prophet: “What did G<small>OD</small> answer you?” or “What did G<small>OD</small> speak?”",
            "But if you say “the burden of G<small>OD</small> ”—assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small>: Because you said this thing, “the burden of G<small>OD</small>,” whereas I sent word to you not to say “the burden of G<small>OD</small>,” ",
            "I will utterly forget you<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>forget you </b>Some Heb. mss., Septuagint, and other versions read “lift you up,” a word from the same root as “burden.”</i> and I will cast you away from My presence, together with the city that I gave to you and your ancestors. ",
            "And I will lay upon you a disgrace for all time, shame for all time, which shall never be forgotten."
        ],
        [
            "G<small>OD</small>\n showed me two baskets of figs, placed in front of the Temple of G<small>OD</small>. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had exiled King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and the officials of Judah, and the artisans and smiths, and had brought them from Jerusalem to Babylon. ",
            "One basket contained very good figs, like first-ripened figs, and the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.",
            "And G<small>OD</small> said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “Figs—the good ones are very good, and the bad ones very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”",
            "Then the word of G<small>OD</small> came to me:",
            "Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel: As with these good figs, so will I single out for good the Judean exiles whom I have driven out from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ",
            "I will look upon them favorably, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not overthrow them; I will plant them and not uproot them. ",
            "And I will give them the understanding to acknowledge Me, for I am G<small>OD</small>. And they shall be My people and I will be their God, when they turn back to Me with all their heart.",
            "And like the bad figs, which are so bad that they cannot be eaten—thus said G<small>OD</small> —so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem that is left in this land, and those who are living in the land of Egypt: ",
            "I will make them a horror—an evil—to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and a proverb, a byword and a curse<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a curse </b>I.e., a standard by which people curse; cf. Gen. 12.2 and note; Zech. 8.13.</i> in all the places to which I banish them. ",
            "I will send the sword, famine, and pestilence against them until they are exterminated from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors."
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, which was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. ",
            "This is what the prophet Jeremiah said to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:",
            "From the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day—these twenty-three years—the word of G<small>OD</small> has come to me. I have spoken to you persistently, but you would not listen. ",
            "Moreover, G<small>OD</small> constantly sent all his servants the prophets to you, but you would not listen or incline your ears to hear ",
            "when they said, “Turn back, every one, from your evil ways and your wicked acts, that you may remain throughout the ages on the soil that G<small>OD</small> gave to you and your ancestors. ",
            "Do not follow other gods, to serve them and worship them. Do not vex Me with what your own hands have made,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>what your own hands have made </b>I.e., idols.</i> and I will not bring disaster upon you.” ",
            "But you would not listen to Me—declares G<small>OD</small> —but vexed Me with what your hands made, to your own hurt.",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts: Because you would not listen to My words, ",
            "I am going to send for all the peoples of the north—declares G<small>OD</small> —and for My servant, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all those nations round about. I will exterminate them and make them a desolation, an object of hissing<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hissing </b>Cf. note at 18.16.</i> —ruins for all time. ",
            "And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride, and the sound of the mill and the light of the lamp. ",
            "This whole land shall be a desolate ruin.<br>And those nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.",
            "When the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation and the land of the Chaldeans for their sins—declares G<small>OD</small> —and I will make it a desolation for all time. ",
            "And I will bring upon that land all that I have decreed against it, all that is recorded in this book—that which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ",
            "For they too shall be enslaved by many nations and great kings; and I will requite them according to their acts and according to their conduct.",
            "For thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel, to me: “Take from My hand this cup of wine—of wrath—and make all the nations to whom I send you drink of it. ",
            "Let them drink and retch and act crazy, because of the sword that I am sending among them.”",
            "So I took the cup from G<small>OD</small>’s hand and gave drink to all the nations to whom G<small>OD</small> had sent me:",
            "Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings and officials, to make them a desolate ruin, an object of hissing<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hissing </b>Cf. note at 18.16.</i> and a curse<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a curse </b>Cf. note at 24.9.</i> —as is now the case; ",
            "Pharaoh king of Egypt, his courtiers, his officials, and all his people; ",
            "all the mixed peoples;<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the mixed peoples </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what is left of Ashdod; ",
            "Edom, Moab, and Ammon; ",
            "all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon, and all the kings of the coastland across the sea; ",
            "Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and all those who have their hair clipped; ",
            "all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed peoples<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the mixed peoples </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> who live in the desert; ",
            "all the kings of Zimri<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Zimri </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> and all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media; ",
            "all the kings of the north, whether far from or close to each other—all the royal lands that are on the earth.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>royal lands that are on the earth </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> And last of all, the king of Sheshach<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Sheshach </b>A cipher for <i>Babel</i> “Babylon.”</i> shall drink.",
            "Say to them: “Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: Drink and get drunk and vomit; fall and never rise again, because of the sword that I send among you.” ",
            "And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, say to them, “Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts: You must drink! ",
            "If I am bringing the punishment first on the city that bears My name, do you expect to go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning the sword against all the inhabitants of the earth—declares G<small>OD</small> of Hosts.”",
            "You are to prophesy all those things to them, and then say to them:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">  G<small>OD</small>  </span> roars from on high,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And bellows from the holy dwelling—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Roaring aloud over the [earthly] abode</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And uttering shouts like the grape-treaders—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against all the dwellers on earth.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Tumult has reached the ends of the earth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> has a case against the nations,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And contends with all flesh—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Delivering the wicked to the sword</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Disaster goes forth</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From nation to nation;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A great storm is unleashed</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the remotest parts of earth.</span><br>",
            "In that day, the earth shall be strewn with the slain of G<small>OD</small> from one end to the other. They shall not be mourned, or gathered and buried; they shall become dung upon the face of the earth.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Howl, you shepherds, and yell,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Strew [dust] on yourselves, you lords of the flock!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the day of your slaughter draws near.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will break you in pieces,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I will break you in pieces </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And you shall fall like a precious vessel.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flight shall fail the shepherds,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And escape, the lords of the flock.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark, the outcry of the shepherds,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the howls of the lords of the flock!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> is ravaging their pasture.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The peaceful meadows shall be wiped out</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By G<small>OD</small>’s fierce wrath.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a lion [God] has gone forth from the lair;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The land has become a desolation,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of the oppressive</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>oppressive </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> wrath,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of such fierce anger.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came from G<small>OD</small>:",
            "“Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Stand in the court of the House of G<small>OD</small>, and speak to [the inhabitants of] all the towns of Judah, who are coming to worship in the House of G<small>OD</small>, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not omit anything. ",
            "Perhaps they will listen and turn back, each from their own evil way, that I may renounce the punishment I am planning to bring upon them for their wicked acts.",
            "“Say to them: Thus said G<small>OD</small>: If you do not obey Me, abiding by the Teaching that I have set before you, ",
            "heeding the words of My servants the prophets whom I have been sending to you persistently—but you have not heeded—",
            "then I will make this House like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a curse </b>Cf. note at 24.9.</i> for all the nations of earth.”",
            "The priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the House of G<small>OD</small>.",
            "And when Jeremiah finished speaking all that G<small>OD</small> had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You shall die! ",
            "How dare you prophesy in the name of G<small>OD</small> that this House shall become like Shiloh and this city be made desolate, without inhabitants?” And all the people crowded about Jeremiah in the House of G<small>OD</small>.",
            "When the officials of Judah heard about this, they went up from the king’s palace to the House of G<small>OD</small> and held a session at the entrance of the New Gate of the House of<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the House of </b>So many mss. and ancient versions; other mss. and the editions omit these words.</i> G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "The priests and prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the death penalty, for he has prophesied against this city, as you yourselves have heard.”",
            "Jeremiah said to the officials and to all the people, “It was G<small>OD</small> who sent me to prophesy against this House and this city all the words you heard. ",
            "Therefore mend your ways and your acts, and heed the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God, that G<small>OD</small> may renounce the punishment that has been decreed for you. ",
            "As for me, I am in your hands: do to me what seems good and right to you. ",
            "But know that if you put me to death, you and this city and its inhabitants will be guilty of shedding an innocent’s blood. For in truth G<small>OD</small> has sent me to you, to speak all these words to you.”",
            "Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man does not deserve the death penalty, for he spoke to us in the name of the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God.”",
            "And some of the elders of the land arose and said to the entire assemblage of the people, ",
            "“Micah the Morashtite, who prophesied in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Zion shall be plowed as a field,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the Temple Mount a shrine in the woods.’</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Zion shall … shrine in the woods </b>Cf. Mic. 3.12.</i> ",
            "Did King Hezekiah of Judah, and all Judah, put him to death? Did he not rather fear G<small>OD</small> and implore G<small>OD</small>, so that G<small>OD</small> renounced the punishment He had decreed against them? We are about to do great injury to ourselves!”",
            "There was also a man prophesying in the name of G<small>OD</small>, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and this land the same things as Jeremiah. ",
            "King Jehoiakim and all his warriors and all the officials heard about his address, and the king wanted to put him to death. Uriah heard of this and fled in fear, and came to Egypt. ",
            "But King Jehoiakim sent agents—Elnathan son of Achbor and several men under him—to Egypt.",
            "They took Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people. ",
            "However, Ahikam son of Shaphan protected Jeremiah, so that he was not handed over to the people for execution."
        ],
        [
            "At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Jehoiakim </b>Emendation yields “Zedekiah”; so a few mss. and Syriac; cf. vv. 3 and 12.</i> son of Josiah of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>:",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> to me: Make for yourself thongs and bars of a yoke, and put them on your neck. ",
            "And send them<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>And send them </b>Emendation yields “And send,” i.e., a message.</i> to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by envoys who have come to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem; ",
            "and give them this charge to their masters: Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: Say this to your masters:",
            "“It is I who made the earth, and the humans and animals that are on the earth, by My great might and My outstretched arm; and I give it to whomever I deem proper. ",
            "I herewith deliver all these lands to My servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; I even give him the wild beasts to serve him. ",
            "All nations shall serve him, his son and his grandson—until the turn of his own land comes, when many nations and great kings shall subjugate him. ",
            "The nation or kingdom that does not serve him—King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—and does not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will visit—declares G<small>OD</small> —with sword, famine, and pestilence, until I have destroyed it by his hands. ",
            "As for you, give no heed to your prophets, augurs, dreamers,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>dreamers </b>Lit. “dreams.”</i> diviners, and sorcerers, who say to you, ‘Do not serve the king of Babylon.’ ",
            "For they prophesy falsely to you—with the result that you shall be banished from your land; I will drive you out and you shall perish.",
            "But the nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serves him, will be left by Me on its own soil—declares G<small>OD</small> —to till it and dwell on it.”",
            "I also spoke to King Zedekiah of Judah in just the same way: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live! ",
            "Otherwise you will die together with your people, by sword, famine, and pestilence, as G<small>OD</small> has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon. ",
            "Give no heed to the words of the prophets who say to you, ‘Do not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy falsely to you. ",
            "I have not sent them—declares G<small>OD</small> —and they prophesy falsely in My name, with the result that I will drive you out and you shall perish, together with the prophets who prophesy to you.”",
            "And to the priests and to all that people I said: “Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Give no heed to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ‘The vessels of the House of G<small>OD</small> shall shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ for they prophesy falsely to you. ",
            "Give them no heed. Serve the king of Babylon, and live! Otherwise this city shall become a ruin. ",
            "If they are really prophets and the word of G<small>OD</small> is with them, let them intercede with G<small>OD</small> of Hosts not to let the vessels remaining in the House of G<small>OD</small>, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem, go to Babylon!",
            "“For thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts concerning the columns, the tank,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>tank </b>Lit. “sea”; cf. 1 Kings 7.23ff.</i> the stands, and the rest of the vessels remaining in this city, ",
            "which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take when he exiled King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; ",
            "for thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels remaining in the House of G<small>OD</small>, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ",
            "They shall be brought to Babylon, and there they shall remain, until I take note of them—declares G<small>OD</small> of Hosts—and bring them up and restore them to this place.”"
        ],
        [
            "That year, early in the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the House of G<small>OD</small>, in the presence of the priests and all the people. He said: ",
            "“Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I hereby break the yoke of the king of Babylon. ",
            "In two years, I will restore to this place all the vessels of the House of G<small>OD</small> that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from this place and brought to Babylon. ",
            "And I will bring back to this place King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the Judean exiles who went to Babylon—declares G<small>OD</small>. Yes, I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”",
            "Then the prophet Jeremiah answered the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and of all the people who were standing in the House of G<small>OD</small>.",
            "The prophet Jeremiah said: “Amen! May G<small>OD</small> do so! May G<small>OD</small> fulfill what you have prophesied and bring back from Babylon to this place the vessels of the House of G<small>OD</small> and all the exiles!",
            "But just listen to this word that I address to you and to all the people:",
            "The prophets who lived before you and me from ancient times prophesied war, disaster, and pestilence against many lands and great kingdoms. ",
            "So if a prophet prophesies good fortune, then only when the word of the prophet comes true can it be known that G<small>OD</small> really sent him.”",
            "But the prophet Hananiah removed the bar from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, and broke it; ",
            "and Hananiah said in the presence of all the people, “Thus said G<small>OD</small>: So will I break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from off the necks of all the nations, in two years.” And the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.",
            "After the prophet Hananiah had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah: ",
            "“Go say to Hananiah: Thus said G<small>OD</small>: You broke bars of wood, but you shall<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>you shall </b>Septuagint reads “I will.”</i> make bars of iron instead. ",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I have put an iron yoke upon the necks of all those nations, that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—and serve him they shall! I have even given the wild beasts to him.”",
            "And the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! G<small>OD</small> did not send you, and you have given this people lying assurances. ",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am going to banish you from off the earth. This year you shall die, for you have urged disloyalty to G<small>OD</small>.”",
            "And the prophet Hananiah died that year, in the seventh month."
        ],
        [
            "This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the priests, the prophets, the rest of the elders of the exile community, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon— ",
            "after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the artisans and smiths had left Jerusalem. ",
            "[The letter was sent] through Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah had dispatched to Babylon, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel, to the whole community that I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: ",
            "Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit. ",
            "You<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>You </b>I.e., the men in the community.</i> should take wives and beget sons and daughters; and you should take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, do not decrease. ",
            "And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to G<small>OD</small> in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: Let not the prophets and diviners in your midst deceive you, and pay no heed to the dreams they<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>they </b>Heb. “you.”</i> dream. ",
            "For they prophesy to you in My name falsely; I did not send them—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small>: When Babylon’s seventy years are over, I will take note of you, and I will fulfill to you My promise of favor—to bring you back to this place. ",
            "For I am mindful of the plans I have made concerning you—declares G<small>OD</small> —plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a hopeful future. ",
            "When you call Me, and come and pray to Me, I will give heed to you. ",
            "You will search for Me and find Me, if only you seek Me wholeheartedly. ",
            "I will be at hand for you—declares G<small>OD</small> —and I will restore your fortunes. And I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places to which I have banished you—declares G<small>OD</small> —and I will bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you.",
            "But you say, “G<small>OD</small> has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\">This verse is continued in vv. 20ff.</i> ",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsfolk who did not go out with you into exile— ",
            "thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts: I am going to let loose sword, famine, and pestilence against them and I will treat them as loathsome figs, so bad that they cannot be eaten.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>loathsome figs … cannot be eaten </b>Cf. chapter 24.</i> ",
            "I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, an execration<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>an execration </b>I.e., a standard by which people execrate; cf. 42.18; 44.12.</i> and an object of horror and hissing<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hissing </b>Cf. note at 18.16.</i> and scorn among all the nations to which I shall banish them, ",
            "because they did not heed My words—declares G<small>OD</small> —when I persistently sent to them My servants, the prophets, and they<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>they </b>Heb. “you.”</i> did not heed—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "But you, the whole exile community that I banished from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of G<small>OD</small> ! ",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy falsely to you in My name: I am going to deliver them into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall put them to death before your eyes. ",
            "And the whole community of Judah in Babylonia shall use a curse derived from their fate: “May God make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon consigned to the flames!”— ",
            "because they did vile things in Israel, committing adultery with the wives of their fellows and speaking in My name false words that I had not commanded them. I am the One who knows and bears witness—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>you </b>I.e., Jeremiah.</i> shall say: ",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and to the rest of the priests, as follows, ",
            "“G<small>OD</small> appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada, to exercise authority<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>to exercise authority </b>Lit. “that there might be officials.”</i> in the House of G<small>OD</small> over every maniac who wants to play the prophet, to put them into the stocks<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>stocks </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> and into the pillory.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>pillory </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah the Anathothite, who plays the prophet among you? ",
            "For he has actually sent a message to us in Babylon to this effect: It will be a long time. Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and enjoy their fruit.”—",
            "When the priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah, ",
            "the word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah:",
            "Send a message to the entire exile community: “Thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and made you false promises, ",
            "assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am going to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. There shall be no one of his line dwelling among this people or seeing the good things I am going to do for My people—declares G<small>OD</small> —for he has urged disloyalty toward G<small>OD</small>.”"
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>:",
            "Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel: Write down in a scroll all the words that I have spoken to you. ",
            "For days are coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah, said G<small>OD</small>; and I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors, and they shall possess it. ",
            "And these are the words that G<small>OD</small> spoke concerning Israel and Judah:",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">We have heard cries of panic,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Terror without relief.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ask and see:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely males do not bear young!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why then do I see every man</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With his hands on his loins</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a woman in labor?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why have all faces turned pale?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ah, that day is awesome;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is none like it!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is a time of trouble for Jacob,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But he shall be delivered from it.</span><br>",
            "In that day—declares G<small>OD</small> of Hosts—I will break the yoke from off your neck and I will rip off your bonds. Strangers shall no longer make slaves of them;",
            "instead, they shall serve the E<small>TERNAL</small> their God and David, the king whom I will raise up for them.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have no fear, My servant Jacob</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Be not dismayed, O Israel!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will deliver you from far away,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your folk from their land of captivity.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And Jacob shall again have calm</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And quiet with none to trouble him;</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am with you to deliver you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will make an end of all the nations</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Among which I have dispersed you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I will not make an end of you!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will not leave you unpunished,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But will chastise you in measure.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your injury is incurable,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your wound severe;</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No one pleads for the healing of your sickness,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>No one pleads for the healing of your sickness </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is no remedy, no recovery for you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All your lovers have forgotten you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They do not seek you out;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I have struck you as an enemy strikes,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With cruel chastisement,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because your iniquity was so great</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And your sins so many.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why cry out over your injury,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That your wound is incurable?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I did these things to you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because your iniquity was so great</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And your sins so many.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All who wanted to devour you shall be devoured,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And every one of your foes shall go into captivity;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those who despoiled you shall be despoiled,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all who pillaged you I will give up to pillage.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I will bring healing to you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And cure you of your wounds</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though they called you “Outcast,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That Zion whom no one seeks out,”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And have compassion upon his dwellings.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The city shall be rebuilt on its mound,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>on its mound </b>I.e., on the mound of ruins left after its previous destruction.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the fortress in its proper place.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From them shall issue thanksgiving</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the sound of dancers.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will multiply them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they shall not be few;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will make them honored,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they shall not be humbled.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His children shall be as of old,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And his community shall be established by My grace;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will deal with all his oppressors.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His chieftain shall be one of his own,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His ruler shall come from his midst;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will bring him near, that he may approach Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For who would otherwise dare approach Me?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You shall be My people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will be your God.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, G<small>OD</small>’s storm</span> goes forth in fury,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A raging tempest;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It shall whirl down upon the head of the wicked.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The anger of </span> G<small>OD</small> shall not turn back<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Till it has fulfilled and completed God’s purposes.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In the days to come</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You shall perceive it.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\">This verse is labeled as 30.25 in some editions.</i> At that time—declares G<small>OD</small> —I will be God to all the clans of Israel, and they shall be My people.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The people escaped from the sword,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Found favor in the wilderness;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When Israel was marching homeward</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">  G<small>OD</small>  </span> was revealed<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>revealed </b>Heb. adds “to me”; emendation yields “to him.”</i> long ago.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Eternal love I conceived for you then;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore I continue My grace to you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will build you firmly again,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O Maiden Israel!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Again you shall take up your hand-drums</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>you shall take up your hand-drums </b>See note at Exod. 15.20.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And go forth to the rhythm of the dancers.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Again you shall plant vineyards</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On the hills of Samaria;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>You </b>Heb. “They.”</i> shall plant and live to enjoy the fruit.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the day is coming when watchmen</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall proclaim on the heights of Ephraim:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Come, let us go up to Zion,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God!",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Cry out in joy for Jacob,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shout at the crossroads</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>crossroads </b>Lit. “head.”</i> of the nations!<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Sing aloud in praise, and say:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Save, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, Your people,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Save, O E<small>TERNAL</small> One, Your people </b>Emendation yields “G<small>OD</small> has saved this people.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The remnant of Israel.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will bring them in from the northland,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Gather them from the ends of the earth—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The blind and the lame among them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those with child and those in labor—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In a vast throng they shall return here.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall come with weeping,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And with compassion</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>compassion </b>For this meaning, cf. Zech. 12.10.</i> will I guide them.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will lead them to streams of water,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">By a level road where they will not stumble.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am ever a Father</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Father </b>See note at 3.19.</i> to Israel,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ephraim is My first-born.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hear the word of </span> G<small>OD</small>, O nations,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And tell it in the isles afar.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Say:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The One who scattered Israel will gather them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And will guard them as a shepherd his flock.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> will ransom Jacob,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Redeem him from one too strong for him.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall come and shout on the heights of Zion,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Radiant over G<small>OD</small>’s bounty—</span> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Over new grain and wine and oil,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And over sheep and cattle.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall fare like a watered garden,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall never languish again.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then shall maidens dance gaily,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Young men and old alike.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will turn their mourning to joy,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will comfort them and cheer them in their grief.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will give the priests their fill of fatness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And My people shall enjoy My full bounty</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A cry is heard in Ramah</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>in Ramah </b>Or “on a height.”</i> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Wailing, bitter weeping—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Rachel weeping for her children.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She refuses to be comforted</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For her children, who are gone.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Restrain your voice from weeping,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your eyes from shedding tears;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For there is a reward for your labor</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall return from the enemy’s land.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And there is hope for your future</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your children shall return to their country.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I can hear Ephraim lamenting:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“You have chastised me, and I am chastised</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a calf that has not been broken.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Receive me back, let me return,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For You, O </span> E<small>TERNAL</small> One, are my God.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Now that I have turned back, I am filled with remorse;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Now that I am made aware, I strike my thigh.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>strike my thigh </b>A gesture of self-reproach.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I am ashamed and humiliated,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I bear the disgrace of my youth.”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Truly, Ephraim is a dear son to Me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A child that is dandled!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whenever I have turned</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>turned </b>Lit. “spoken.”</i> against him,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My thoughts would dwell on him still.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That is why My heart yearns for him;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will receive him back in love</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Erect markers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Set up signposts;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>signposts </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Keep in mind the highway,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The road that you traveled.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Return, Maiden Israel!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Return to these towns of yours!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How long will you waver,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O rebellious daughter?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">(For </span> G<small>OD</small> has created something new on earth:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A woman courts</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">m</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>courts </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> a man.)",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: They shall again say this in the land of Judah and in its towns, when I restore their fortunes:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“</span> G<small>OD</small> bless you,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Abode of righteousness,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O holy mountain!”</span><br>",
            "Judah and all its towns alike shall be inhabited by the farmers and such as move about<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">n</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>such as move about </b>Lit. “they shall travel.”</i> with the flocks. ",
            "For I will give the thirsty abundant drink, and satisfy all who languish.",
            "At this I awoke and looked about, and my sleep<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">o</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>my sleep </b>I.e., the vision in the preceding verses.</i> had been pleasant to me.",
            "See, a time is coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Judah with seed of people and seed of cattle; ",
            "and just as I was watchful over them to uproot and to pull down, to overthrow and to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will be watchful over them to build and to plant—declares G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "In those days, they shall no longer say, “Parents have eaten sour grapes and children’s teeth are blunted.”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">p</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>blunted </b>In contrast to others “set on edge.”</i> ",
            "But every one shall die for their own sins: whosoever eats sour grapes, their teeth shall be blunted.",
            "See, a time is coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. ",
            "It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant that they broke, though I espoused<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">q</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>espoused </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain; compare 3.14.</i> them—declares G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares G<small>OD</small>: I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ",
            "No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed G<small>OD</small> ”; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me—declares G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I will forgive their iniquities,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And remember their sins no more.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who established the sun for light by day,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The laws of moon and stars for light by night,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who stirs up the sea into roaring waves,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose name is </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If these laws should ever be annulled by Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Only then would the offspring of Israel cease</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To be a nation before Me for all time.</span><br>",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: If the heavens above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth below could be fathomed, only then would I reject all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "See, a time is coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when the city shall be rebuilt for G<small>OD</small> from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate; ",
            "and the measuring line shall go straight out to the Gareb Hill, and then turn toward Goah. ",
            "And the entire Valley of the Corpses and Ashes, and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, and the corner of the Horse Gate on the east, shall be holy to G<small>OD</small>. They shall never again be uprooted or overthrown."
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small> in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. ",
            "At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the prison compound attached to the palace of the king of Judah. ",
            "For King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him, saying, “How dare you prophesy: ‘Thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am delivering this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ",
            "And King Zedekiah of Judah shall not escape from the Chaldeans; he shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak to him face to face and see him in person.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>and he shall speak to him face to face and see him in person </b>Lit. “and his mouth shall speak with his mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes.”</i> ",
            "And Zedekiah shall be brought to Babylon, there to remain until I take note of him—declares G<small>OD</small>. When you wage war against the Chaldeans, you shall not be successful.’”",
            "Jeremiah said: The word of G<small>OD</small> came to me:",
            "Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you and say, “Buy my land in Anathoth, for you are next in succession to redeem it by purchase.”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>for you are next in succession to redeem it by purchase </b>Lit. “for yours is the procedure of redemption by purchase.”</i> ",
            "And just as G<small>OD</small> had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the prison compound and said to me, “Please buy my land in Anathoth, in the territory of Benjamin; for the right of succession is yours, and you have the duty of redemption. Buy it.” Then I knew that it was indeed the word of G<small>OD</small>.",
            "So I bought the land in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ",
            "I wrote a deed, sealed it, and had it witnessed; and I weighed out the silver on a balance. ",
            "I took the deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one according to rule and law,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>according to rule and law </b>Force of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "and gave the deed to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah in the presence of my kinsman Hanamel, of the witnesses who were named<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>who were named </b>With many mss. and ancient versions; so ancient Near Eastern practice. Other mss. and the editions read “who wrote” (i.e., signed their names).</i> in the deed, and all the Judeans who were sitting in the prison compound. ",
            "In their presence I charged Baruch as follows:",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these documents, this deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one, and put them into an earthen jar, so that they may last a long time.” ",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses, fields, and vineyards shall again be purchased in this land.”",
            "But after I had given the deed to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to G<small>OD</small>: ",
            "“Ah, my Sovereign G<small>OD</small> ! You made heaven and earth with Your great might and outstretched arm. Nothing is too wondrous for You! ",
            "You show kindness to the thousandth generation, but visit the guilt of the parents upon their children after them. O great and mighty God whose name is G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, ",
            "wondrous in purpose and mighty in deed, whose eyes observe all the ways of mortals, so as to repay each one according to their ways, and with the proper fruit of their deeds! ",
            "You displayed signs and marvels in the land of Egypt with lasting effect,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>with lasting effect </b>Lit. “to this day.”</i> and won renown in Israel and among humankind to this very day. ",
            "You freed Your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs and marvels, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror. ",
            "You gave them this land that You had sworn to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey, ",
            "and they came and took possession of it. But they did not listen to You or follow Your Teaching; they did nothing of what You commanded them to do. Therefore you have caused all this misfortune to befall them.",
            "Here are the siege mounds, raised against the city to storm it; and the city, because of sword and famine and pestilence, is at the mercy of the Chaldeans who are attacking it. What You threatened has come to pass—as You see. ",
            "Yet You, my Sovereign G<small>OD</small>, said to me: Buy the land for money and call in witnesses—when the city is at the mercy of the Chaldeans!”",
            "Then the word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah:",
            "Behold I am G<small>OD</small>, the God of all flesh. Is anything too wondrous for Me? ",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am delivering this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ",
            "And the Chaldeans who have been attacking this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it down—with the houses on whose roofs they made offerings to Baal and poured out libations to other gods, so as to vex Me. ",
            "For the people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in My sight since their youth; the people of Israel have done nothing but vex Me by their conduct—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "This city has aroused My anger and My wrath from the day it was built until this day; so that it must be removed from My sight",
            "because of all the wickedness of the people of Israel and Judah who have so acted as to vex Me—they, their kings, their officials, their priests and prophets, and the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ",
            "They turned their backs to Me, not their faces; though I have taught them persistently, they do not give heed or accept rebuke. ",
            "They placed their abominations in the House that bears My name and defiled it;",
            "and they built the shrines of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, where they offered up their sons and daughters to Molech—when I had never commanded, or even thought [of commanding], that they should do such an abominable thing, and so bring guilt on Judah.",
            "But now, assuredly, thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, “It is being delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon through the sword, through famine, and through pestilence”: ",
            "See, I will gather them from all the lands to which I have banished them in My anger and wrath, and in great rage; and I will bring them back to this place and let them dwell secure. ",
            "They shall be My people, and I will be their God. ",
            "I will give them a single heart and a single nature to revere Me for all time, and it shall be well with them and their children after them. ",
            "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them and that I will treat them graciously; and I will put into their hearts reverence for Me, so that they do not turn away from Me. ",
            "I will delight in treating them graciously, and I will plant them in this land faithfully, with all My heart and soul.",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small>: As I have brought this terrible disaster upon this people, so I am going to bring upon them the vast good fortune that I have promised for them. ",
            "And fields shall again be purchased in this land of which you say, “It is a desolation, without humans or animals; it is delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.”",
            "Fields shall be purchased, and deeds written and sealed, and witnesses called in the land of Benjamin and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah; the towns of the hill country, the towns of the Shephelah, and the towns of the Negeb. For I will restore their fortunes—declares G<small>OD</small>."
        ],
        [
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still confined in the prison compound, as follows:",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> who is planning it,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> who is shaping it to bring it about,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose name is </span> G<small>OD</small>:",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Call to Me, and I will answer you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will tell you wondrous things,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Secrets you have not known.</span><br>",
            "For thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that were torn down for [defense] against the siege mounds and against the sword, ",
            "and were filled by those who went to fight the Chaldeans<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>for [defense] against the siege mounds … fight the Chaldeans </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> —with the corpses of those whom I struck down in My anger and rage, hiding My face from this city because of all their wickedness: ",
            "I am going to bring her relief and healing. I will heal them and reveal to them abundance<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>abundance </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> of true favor. ",
            "And I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and I will rebuild them as of old. ",
            "And I will purge them of all the sins that they committed against Me, and I will pardon all the sins that they committed against Me, by which they rebelled against Me. ",
            "And she shall gain through Me renown, joy, fame, and glory above all the nations on earth, when they hear of all the good fortune I provide for them.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>them </b>I.e., Judah and Israel.</i> They will thrill and quiver because of all the good fortune and all the prosperity that I provide for her.",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is ruined, without humans or animals—in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without humans, without inhabitants, without animals— ",
            "the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride, the voice of those who cry, “Give thanks to G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, for G<small>OD</small> —whose steadfast love is eternal—is good!” as they bring thanksgiving offerings to the House of G<small>OD</small>. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as of old—said G<small>OD</small>.",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts: In this ruined place, without humans or animals, and in all its towns, there shall again be a pasture for shepherds, where they can rest their flocks. ",
            "In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah, and in the towns of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin and in the environs of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, sheep shall pass again under the hands of one who counts them—said G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "See, days are coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when I will fulfill the promise that I made concerning the House of Israel and the House of Judah. ",
            "In those days and at that time, I will raise up a true branch of David’s line, and he shall do what is just and right in the land. ",
            "In those days Judah shall be delivered and Jerusalem shall dwell secure. And this is what it shall be called: “G<small>OD</small> is our Vindicator.”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>G<small>OD</small> is our Vindicator </b>See note at 23.6; here, it is the city that will bear this name.</i> ",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small>: There shall never be an end to those of David’s line who sit upon the throne of the House of Israel.",
            "Nor shall there ever be an end to the line of the levitical priests before Me, of those who present burnt offerings and turn the grain offering to smoke and perform sacrifices.",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah:",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: If you could break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night should not come at their proper time, ",
            "only then could My covenant with My servant David be broken—so that he would not have a descendant reigning upon his throne—or with My ministrants, the levitical priests. ",
            "Like the host of heaven that cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea that cannot be measured, so will I multiply the offspring of My servant David, and of the Levites who minister to Me.",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah:",
            "You see what this people said: “The two families that G<small>OD</small> chose have now been rejected.” Thus they despise My people, and regard them as no longer a nation.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>and regard them as no longer a nation </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: As surely as I have established My covenant with day and night—the laws of heaven and earth—",
            "so I will never reject the offspring of Jacob and My servant David; I will never fail to take from his offspring rulers for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I will restore their fortunes and take them back in love."
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>, when King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth and all the peoples under his sway, were waging war against Jerusalem and all its towns:",
            "Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel: Go speak to King Zedekiah of Judah, and say to him: “Thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am going to deliver this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it by fire. ",
            "And you will not escape from him; you will be captured and handed over to him. And you will see the king of Babylon face to face and speak to him in person;<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>And you will see the king of Babylon face to face and speak to him in person </b>For the idiom see note at 32.4.</i> and you will be brought to Babylon. ",
            "But hear the word of G<small>OD</small>, O King Zedekiah of Judah! Thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning you: You will not die by the sword. ",
            "You will die a peaceful death; and as incense<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>incense </b>Lit. “burnings.”</i> was burned for your ancestors, the earlier kings who preceded you, so they will burn incense<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>incense </b>See preceding note.</i> for you, and they will lament for you ‘Ah, lord!’ For I Myself have made the promise—declares G<small>OD</small>.”",
            "The prophet Jeremiah spoke all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem, ",
            "when the army of the king of Babylon was waging war against Jerusalem and against the remaining towns of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah, for they were the only fortified towns of Judah that were left.",
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small> after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim a release<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>release </b>In contrast to others “liberty.”</i> among them— ",
            "that everyone should set free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and that no one should keep their fellow Judean enslaved.",
            "Everyone, officials and people, who had entered into the covenant agreed to set their male and female slaves free and not keep them enslaved any longer; they complied and let them go. ",
            "But afterward they turned about and brought back the men and women they had set free, and forced them into slavery again. ",
            "Then it was that the word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>:",
            "Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage, saying: ",
            "“In the seventh year<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>In the seventh year </b>Of servitude. Lit. “After a period of seven years”; cf. Deut. 14.28; 15.1.</i> each of you must let go any fellow Hebrew who may be sold<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>who may be sold </b>Or “who sell themselves.”</i> to you; when they have served you six years, you must set them free.” But your ancestors would not obey Me or give ear. ",
            "Lately you turned about and did what is proper in My sight, and all of you proclaimed a release to your compatriots; and you made a covenant accordingly before Me in the House that bears My name. ",
            "But now you have turned back and have profaned My name; each of you has brought back the men and women whom you had given their freedom, and forced them to be your slaves again.",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small>: You would not obey Me and proclaim a release, each to your kin and neighbor. Lo! I proclaim your release—declares G<small>OD</small> —to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine; and I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ",
            "I will make the parties who violated My covenant, who did not fulfill the terms of the covenant that they made before Me, [like] the calf that they cut in two so as to pass between the halves:<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the calf … the halves </b>Cf. Gen. 15.9–10, 17–21.</i> ",
            "The officers of Judah and Jerusalem, the officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the halves of the calf ",
            "shall be handed over to their enemies, to those who seek to kill them. Their carcasses shall become food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. ",
            "I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah and his officers to their enemies, who seek to kill them—to the army of the king of Babylon that has withdrawn from you. ",
            "I hereby give the command—declares G<small>OD</small> —by which I will bring them back against this city. They shall attack it and capture it, and burn it down. I will make the towns of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small> in the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:",
            "Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them to the House of G<small>OD</small>, to one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.",
            "So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, all his sons, and all the men in the household of the Rechabites; ",
            "and I brought them to the House of G<small>OD</small>, to the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the agent of God, which is next to the chamber of the officials and above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the guardian of the threshold. ",
            "I set bowls full of wine and cups before the Rechabites, and said to them, “Have some wine.”",
            "They replied, “We will not drink wine, for our ancestor, Jonadab son of Rechab, commanded us: ‘You shall never drink wine, either you or your children. ",
            "Nor shall you build houses or sow fields<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>fields </b>Lit. “seed.”</i> or plant vineyards, nor shall you own such things; but you shall live in tents all your days, so that you may live long upon the land where you sojourn.’ ",
            "And we have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab in all that he commanded us: we never drink wine, neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters. ",
            "Nor do we build houses to live in, and we do not own vineyards or fields for sowing; ",
            "but we live in tents. We have obeyed and done all that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.",
            "But when King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon invaded the country, we said, ‘Come, let us go into Jerusalem because of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of Aram.’ And so we are living in Jerusalem.”",
            "Then the word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah:",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: Go say to the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “You can learn a lesson [here] about obeying My commands—declares G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "The commands of Jonadab son of Rechab have been fulfilled: he charged his children not to drink wine, and to this day they have not drunk, in obedience to the charge of their ancestor. But I spoke to you persistently, and you did not listen to Me. ",
            "I persistently sent you all My servants, the prophets, to say: ‘Turn back, every one of you, from your wicked ways and mend your deeds; do not follow other gods or serve them. Then you may remain on the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.’ But you did not give ear or listen to Me. ",
            "The family of Jonadab son of Rechab have indeed fulfilled the charge that their ancestor gave them; but this people has not listened to Me.",
            "Assuredly, thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster with which I have threatened them; for I spoke to them, but they would not listen; I called to them, but they would not respond.”",
            "And to the family of the Rechabites Jeremiah said: “Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the charge of your ancestor Jonadab and kept all his commandments, and done all that he enjoined upon you, ",
            "assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: There shall never cease to be someone from the line of Jonadab son of Rechab standing before Me.”"
        ],
        [
            "In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>:",
            "Get a scroll and write upon it all the words that I have spoken to you—concerning Israel and Judah and all the nations—from the time I first spoke to you in the days of Josiah to this day.",
            "Perhaps when the House of Judah hear of all the disasters I intend to bring upon them, they will turn back from their wicked ways, and I will pardon their iniquity and their sin. ",
            "So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote down in the scroll, at Jeremiah’s dictation, all the words that G<small>OD</small> had spoken to him.",
            "Jeremiah instructed Baruch, “I am in hiding;<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>in hiding </b>Or “detained.”</i> I cannot go to the House of G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "But you go and read aloud G<small>OD</small>’s words from the scroll that you wrote at my dictation, to all the people in the House of G<small>OD</small> on a fast day; thus you will also be reading them to all the Judeans who come in from the towns. ",
            "Perhaps their entreaty will be accepted by G<small>OD</small>, if they turn back from their wicked ways. For great is the anger and wrath with which G<small>OD</small> has threatened this people.”",
            "Baruch son of Neriah did just as the prophet Jeremiah had instructed him, about reading G<small>OD</small>’s words from the scroll in the House of G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "In the ninth month of the fifth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people coming from Judah proclaimed a fast before G<small>OD</small> in Jerusalem. ",
            "It was then that Baruch—in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, near the new gateway of the House of G<small>OD</small> —read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll to all the people in the House of G<small>OD</small>.",
            "Micaiah son of Gemariah son of Shaphan heard all the words of G<small>OD</small> [read] from the scroll, ",
            "and he went down to the king’s palace, to the chamber of the scribe. There he found all the officials in session: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. ",
            "And Micaiah told them all that he had heard as Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.",
            "Then all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah son of Shelemiah son of Cushi to say to Baruch, “Take that scroll from which you read to the people, and come along!” And Baruch took the scroll and came to them.",
            "They said, “Sit down and read it<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Sit down and read it </b>Change of vocalization yields “Read it again”; cf. Targum and Septuagint.</i> to us.” And Baruch read it to them. ",
            "When they heard all these words, they turned to each other in fear; and they said to Baruch, “We must report all this to the king.”",
            "And they questioned Baruch further, “Tell us how you wrote down all these words that he spoke.”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>that he spoke </b>Force of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "He answered them, “He himself recited all those words to me, and I would write them down in the scroll in ink.”",
            "The officials said to Baruch, “Go into hiding, you and Jeremiah. Don’t let a soul know where you are!” ",
            "And they went to the king in the court, after leaving the scroll in the chamber of the scribe Elishama. And they reported all these matters to the king.",
            "The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll and he fetched it from the chamber of the scribe Elishama. Jehudi read it to the king and to all the officials who were in attendance on the king.",
            "Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in the winter house, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. ",
            "And every time Jehudi read three or four columns, [the king] would cut it up with a scribe’s knife and throw it into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the brazier. ",
            "Yet the king and all his courtiers who heard all these words showed no fear and did not tear their garments;",
            "moreover, Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he would not listen to them.",
            "The king ordered Jerahmeel, the king’s son, and Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But G<small>OD</small> hid them.",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation:",
            "Get yourself another scroll, and write upon it the same words that were in the first scroll that was burned by King Jehoiakim of Judah. ",
            "And concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah you shall say: Thus said G<small>OD</small>: You burned that scroll, saying, “How dare you write in it that the king of Babylon will come and destroy this land and cause human and animal to cease from it?” ",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah: He shall not have any of his line sitting on the throne of David; and his own corpse shall be left exposed to the heat by day and the cold by night. ",
            "And I will punish him and his offspring and his courtiers for their iniquity; I will bring on them and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on all the citizenry of Judah all the disasters of which I have warned them—but they would not listen.",
            "So Jeremiah got another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah. And at Jeremiah’s dictation, he wrote in it the whole text of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned; and more of the like was added."
        ],
        [
            "Zedekiah son of Josiah became king instead of Coniah son of Jehoiakim, for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon set him up as king over the land of Judah. ",
            "Neither he nor his courtiers nor the people of the land gave heed to the words that G<small>OD</small> spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.",
            "Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of the priest Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah, to say, “Please pray on our behalf to the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God.” ",
            "(Jeremiah could still go in and out among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. ",
            "The army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they raised the siege of Jerusalem.)",
            "Then the word of G<small>OD</small> came to the prophet Jeremiah:",
            "Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “The army of Pharaoh, which set out to help you, will return to its own land, to Egypt. ",
            "And the Chaldeans will come back and attack this city and they will capture it and destroy it by fire.”",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Do not delude yourselves into thinking, “The Chaldeans will go away from us.” They will not. ",
            "Even if you defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans that are fighting against you, and only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down!",
            "When the army of the Chaldeans raised the siege of Jerusalem on account of the army of Pharaoh, ",
            "Jeremiah was going to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin to share in some property there<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>to share in some property there </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> among the people. ",
            "When he got to the Benjamin Gate, there was a guard officer there named Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah; and he arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!” ",
            "Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I’m not defecting to the Chaldeans!” But Irijah would not listen to him; he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ",
            "The officials were furious with Jeremiah; they beat him and put him into prison, in the house of the scribe Jonathan—for it had been made into a jail. ",
            "Thus Jeremiah came to the pit and the cells,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>pit and the cells </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> and Jeremiah remained there a long time.",
            "Then King Zedekiah sent for him, and the king questioned him secretly in his palace. He asked, “Is there any word from G<small>OD</small> ?” “There is!” Jeremiah answered, and he continued, “You will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” ",
            "And Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you, to your courtiers, and to this people, that you have put me in jail? ",
            "And where are those prophets of yours who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would never move against you and against this land?",
            "Now, please hear me, O lord king, and grant my plea: Don’t send me back to the house of the scribe Jonathan to die there.”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>to die there </b>Lit. “and let me not die there.”</i> ",
            "So King Zedekiah gave instructions to lodge Jeremiah in the prison compound and to supply him daily with a loaf of bread from the Bakers’ Street—until all the bread in the city was gone. Jeremiah remained in the prison compound."
        ],
        [
            "Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard what Jeremiah was saying to all the people: ",
            "“Thus said G<small>OD</small>: Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans shall live; he shall at least gain his life<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>he shall at least gain his life </b>Lit. “he shall have his life as booty”; cf. 21.9.</i> and shall live. ",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: This city shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, and he shall capture it.”",
            "Then the officials said to the king, “Let that man be put to death, for he disheartens<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>disheartens </b>Lit. “weakens the hands of.”</i> the soldiers, and all the people who are left in this city, by speaking such things to them. That man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm!” ",
            "King Zedekiah replied, “He is in your hands; the king cannot oppose you in anything!”",
            "So they took Jeremiah and put him down in the pit of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the prison compound; they let Jeremiah down by ropes. There was no water in the pit, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.",
            "Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch who was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit. The king was then sitting at the Benjamin Gate; ",
            "so Ebed-melech left the king’s palace, and spoke to the king: ",
            "“O lord king, those men have acted wickedly in all they did to the prophet Jeremiah; they have put him down in the pit, to die there of hunger.” For there was no more bread in the city.",
            "Then the king instructed Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take with you thirty<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>thirty </b>One ms. reads “three.”</i> men from here, and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the pit before he dies.” ",
            "So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went to the king’s palace, to a place below<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a place below </b>Emendation yields “the wardrobe of.”</i> the treasury. There they got worn cloths and rags, which they let down to Jeremiah in the pit by ropes. ",
            "And Ebed-melech the Cushite called to Jeremiah, “Put the worn cloths and rags under your armpits, inside the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ",
            "and they pulled Jeremiah up by the ropes and got him out of the pit. And Jeremiah remained in the prison compound.",
            "King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah, and had him brought to him at the third entrance of the House of G<small>OD</small>. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I want to ask you something; don’t conceal anything from me.”",
            "Jeremiah answered the king, “If I tell you, you’ll surely kill me; and if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me.”",
            "Thereupon King Zedekiah secretly promised Jeremiah on oath: “As G<small>OD</small> lives who has given us this life,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>given us this life </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> I will not put you to death or leave you in the hands of those who seek your life.”",
            "Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down. You and your household will live. ",
            "But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, who will burn it down; and you will not escape from them.”",
            "King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am worried about the Judeans who have defected to the Chaldeans; that they [the Chaldeans] might hand me over to them to abuse me.”",
            "“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Listen to G<small>OD</small>’s voice, to what I tell you, that it may go well with you and your life be spared. ",
            "For this is what G<small>OD</small> has shown me if you refuse to surrender:",
            "All the women who are left in the palace of the king of Judah shall be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and they shall say:<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>they shall say </b>I.e., those women, to the king of Judah.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those who were your friends</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have seduced you and vanquished you.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Now that your feet are sunk in the mire,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They have turned their backs [on you].</span><br>",
            "They will bring out all your wives and children to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from them. You will be captured by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned down.”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>this city shall be burned down </b>So Targum and Septuagint and some mss. Most mss. and the editions read “you will burn down this city by fire.”</i> ",
            "Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let a soul know about this conversation, or you will die.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>or you will die </b>Lit. “that you may not die.”</i> ",
            "If the officials should hear that I have spoken with you, and they should come and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; hide nothing from us, or we’ll kill you.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>or we’ll kill you </b>Lit. “that we may not kill you.”</i> And what did the king say to you?’ ",
            "say to them, ‘I was presenting my petition to the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”",
            "All the officials did come to Jeremiah to question him; and he replied to them just as the king had instructed him. So they stopped questioning him, for the conversation had not been overheard. ",
            "Jeremiah remained in the prison compound until the day Jerusalem was captured.<br>When Jerusalem was captured…<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>When Jerusalem was captured… </b>This clause would read well before 39.3.</i> "
        ],
        [
            "In the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon moved against Jerusalem with his whole army, and they laid siege to it. ",
            "And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month, the [walls of] the city were breached. ",
            "All the officers of the king of Babylon entered, and took up quarters at the middle gate—Nergal-sarezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sarezer the Rab-mag,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Rab-saris…Rab-mag </b>Titles of officers.</i> and all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon.",
            "When King Zedekiah of Judah saw them, he and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night, by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the double walls; and he set out toward the Arabah.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>he set out toward the Arabah </b>Hoping to escape across the Jordan.</i> ",
            "But the Chaldean troops pursued them, and they overtook Zedekiah in the steppes of Jericho. They captured him and brought him before King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon at Riblah in the region of Hamath; and he put him on trial. ",
            "The king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons slaughtered at Riblah before his eyes; the king of Babylon had all the nobles of Judah slaughtered.",
            "Then the eyes of Zedekiah were put out and he was chained in bronze fetters, that he might be brought to Babylon.",
            "The Chaldeans burned down the king’s palace and the houses<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>houses </b>Taking Heb. singular as collective, with Kimhi.</i> of the people by fire, and they tore down the walls of Jerusalem. ",
            "The remnant of the people that was left in the city, and the defectors who had gone over to him—the remnant of the people that was left—were exiled by Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, to Babylon. ",
            "But some of the poorest people who owned nothing were left in the land of Judah by Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.",
            "King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had given orders to Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, concerning Jeremiah: ",
            "“Take him and look after him; do him no harm, but grant whatever he asks of you.” ",
            "So Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, and Nebushazban the Rab-saris, and Nergal-sarezer the Rab-mag, and all the commanders of the king of Babylon sent ",
            "and had Jeremiah brought from the prison compound. They committed him to the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, that he might be left at liberty in a house.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>that he might be left at liberty in a house </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> So he dwelt among the people.",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> had come to Jeremiah while he was still confined in the prison compound:",
            "Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite: “Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to fulfill My words concerning this city—for disaster, not for good—and they shall come true on that day in your presence. ",
            "But I will save you on that day—declares G<small>OD</small>; you shall not be delivered into the hands of those you dread.",
            "I will rescue you, and you shall not fall by the sword. You shall escape with your life,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>You shall escape with your life </b>See note at 38.2.</i> because you trusted Me—declares G<small>OD</small>.”"
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah from G<small>OD</small>, after Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, set him free at Ramah, to which he had taken him, chained in fetters, among those from Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.",
            "The chief of the guards took charge of Jeremiah, and he said to him, “The E<small>TERNAL</small> your God threatened this place with this disaster; ",
            "and now G<small>OD</small> has brought it about, by acting on the threat—because you sinned against G<small>OD</small> and did not pay heed. That is why this has happened to you. ",
            "Now, I release you this day from the fetters that were on your hands. If you would like to go with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. And if you don’t want to come with me to Babylon, you need not. See, the whole land is before you: go wherever seems good and right to you.”— ",
            "But [Jeremiah] still did not turn back.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>But [Jeremiah] still did not turn back </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> —“Or go to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has put in charge of the towns of Judah, and stay with him among the people, or go wherever you want to go.”<br>The chief of the guards gave him an allowance of food, and dismissed him. ",
            "So Jeremiah came to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.",
            "The army officers in the open country, and their men with them, heard that the king of Babylon had put Gedaliah son of Ahikam in charge of the region, and that he had put in his charge the men, women, and children—of the poorest in the land—those who had not been exiled to Babylon. ",
            "So they with their men came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah; Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah; Seraiah son of Tanhumeth; the sons of Ephai the Netophathite; and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite.",
            "Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan reassured<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>reassured </b>Lit. “swore to.”</i> them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. ",
            "I am going to stay in Mizpah to attend upon the Chaldeans who will come to us. But you may gather wine and figs<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>figs </b>Lit. “summer fruit.”</i> and oil and put them in your own vessels, and settle in the towns you have occupied.”",
            "Likewise, all the Judeans who were in Moab, Ammon, and Edom, or who were in other lands, heard that the king of Babylon had let a remnant stay in Judah, and that he had put Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan in charge of them. ",
            "All these Judeans returned from all the places to which they had scattered. They came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered large quantities of wine and figs.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>figs </b>See note at v. 10.</i> ",
            "Johanan son of Kareah, and all the army officers in the open country, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah ",
            "and said to him, “Do you know that King Baalis of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them. ",
            "Johanan son of Kareah also said secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Let me go and strike down Ishmael son of Nethaniah—and nobody else will know about it; otherwise he will kill you, and all the Judeans who have gathered about you will be dispersed, and the remnant of Judah will perish!”",
            "But Gedaliah son of Ahikam answered Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do such a thing: what you are saying about Ishmael is not true!”"
        ],
        [
            "In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, who was of royal descent and one of the king’s commanders, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah; and they ate together there at Mizpah. ",
            "Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, because the king of Babylon had put him in charge of the land. ",
            "Ishmael also killed all the Judeans<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the Judeans </b>I.e., their soldiers; cf. Malbim.</i> who were with him—with Gedaliah in Mizpah—and the Chaldean soldiers who were stationed there.",
            "The second day after Gedaliah was killed, when no one else knew about it, ",
            "some men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria—eighty of them, their beards shaved, their garments torn, and their bodies gashed—carrying grain offerings and frankincense to present at the House of G<small>OD</small>. ",
            "Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he walked. As he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.” ",
            "When they came inside the town, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them [and threw their bodies] into a cistern.",
            "But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have stores hidden in a field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey.” So he stopped, and did not kill them along with their fellows.— ",
            "The cistern into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men he had killed in the affair of Gedaliah was the one that<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>in the affair of Gedaliah was the one that </b>Septuagint reads “was a large cistern, which…”</i> King Asa had constructed on account of King Baasha of Israel. That was the one which Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled with corpses.— ",
            "Ishmael carried off all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, including the daughters of the king—all the people left in Mizpah, over whom Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah carried them off, and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.",
            "Johanan son of Kareah, and all the army officers with him, heard of all the crimes committed by Ishmael son of Nethaniah. ",
            "They took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah; and they encountered him by the great pool in Gibeon.",
            "When all the people held by Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, they were glad; ",
            "all the people whom Ishmael had carried off from Mizpah turned back and went over to Johanan son of Kareah.",
            "But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.",
            "Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him took all the rest of the people whom he had rescued from Ishmael son of Nethaniah<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>he had rescued from Ishmael son of Nethaniah </b>Emendation yields “Ishmael son of Nethaniah had carried off.”</i> from Mizpah after he had murdered Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the men, soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs whom [Johanan] had brought back from Gibeon. ",
            "They set out, and they stopped at Geruth<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Geruth </b>Aquila reads “the sheepfolds of.”</i> Chimham, near Bethlehem, on their way to go to Egypt ",
            "because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had put in charge of the land."
        ],
        [
            "Then all the army officers, with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the rest of the people, great and small, approached ",
            "the prophet Jeremiah and said, “Grant our plea, and pray for us to the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God, for all this remnant! For we remain but a few out of many, as you can see. ",
            "Let the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God tell us where we should go and what we should do.”",
            "The prophet Jeremiah answered them, “Agreed: I will pray to the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God as you request, and I will tell you whatever response G<small>OD</small> gives for you. I will withhold nothing from you.”",
            "Thereupon they said to Jeremiah, “Let G<small>OD</small> be a true and faithful witness against us! We swear that we will do exactly as the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God instructs us through you— ",
            "Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God to whom we send you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God.”",
            "After ten days, the word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah. ",
            "He called Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers, and the rest of the people, great and small, ",
            "and said to them, “Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication: ",
            "If you remain in this land, I will build you and not overthrow, I will plant you and not uproot; for I regret the punishment I have brought upon you. ",
            "Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you fear; do not be afraid of him—declares G<small>OD</small> —for I am with you to save you and to rescue you from his hands. ",
            "I will dispose him to be merciful to you: he shall show you mercy and bring you back to<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>bring you back to </b>Change of vocalization yields “let you dwell in.”</i> your own land.",
            "“But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land’—thus disobeying the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God— ",
            "if you say, ‘No! We will go to the land of Egypt, so that we may not see war or hear the sound of the horn, and so that we may not hunger for bread; there we will stay,’ ",
            "then hear the word of G<small>OD</small>, O remnant of Judah! Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you turn your faces toward Egypt, and you go and sojourn there, ",
            "the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, in the land of Egypt, and the famine you worry over shall follow at your heels in Egypt too; and there you shall die. ",
            "All those who turn their faces toward Egypt, in order to sojourn there, shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no surviving remnant of the disaster that I will bring upon them. ",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: As My anger and wrath were poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You shall become an execration of woe, a curse<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>an execration of woe, a curse </b>I.e., a standard by which people execrate and curse; cf. note at 24.9.</i> and a mockery; and you shall never again see this place. ",
            " G<small>OD</small> has spoken against you, O remnant of Judah! Do not go to Egypt! Know well, then—for I warn you this day ",
            "that you were deceitful at heart when you sent me to the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God; and whatever the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God may say, just tell us and we will do it.’ ",
            "I told you today, and you have not obeyed the E<small>TERNAL</small> your God in respect to all that I was sent to tell you— ",
            "know well, then, that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you want to go and sojourn.”"
        ],
        [
            "When Jeremiah had finished speaking all these words to all the people—all the words of the E<small>TERNAL</small> their God, with which the E<small>TERNAL</small> their God had sent him to them— ",
            "Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The E<small>TERNAL</small> our God did not send you to say, ‘Don’t go to Egypt and sojourn there’! ",
            "It is Baruch son of Neriah who is inciting you against us, so that we will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans to be killed or to be exiled to Babylon!”",
            "So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and the rest of the people did not obey G<small>OD</small>’s command to remain in the land of Judah.",
            "Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers took the entire remnant of Judah—those who had returned from all the countries to which they had been scattered and had sojourned in the land of Judah, ",
            "men, women, and children; and the daughters of the king and all the people whom Nebuzaradan the chief of the guards had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, as well as the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah— ",
            "and they went to Egypt. They did not obey G<small>OD</small>.<br>They arrived at Tahpanhes, ",
            "and the word of G<small>OD</small> came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:",
            "Get yourself large stones, and embed them in mortar in the brick structure at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, with some Judeans looking on. ",
            "And say to them: “Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am sending for My servant King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and I<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I </b>Septuagint reads “he.”</i> will set his throne over these stones that I have embedded. He will spread out his pavilion<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>pavilion </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> over them. ",
            "He will come and attack the land of Egypt, delivering<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those destined for the plague, to the plague,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those destined for captivity, to captivity,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And those destined for the sword, to the sword.</span><br>",
            "And I<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I </b>See first note at v. 10.</i> will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn them down and carry them<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>them </b>I.e., the gods.</i> off. He shall wrap himself up in the land of Egypt, as a shepherd wraps himself up in his garment. And he shall depart from there in safety. ",
            "He shall smash the obelisks of the Temple of the Sun that is in the land of Egypt, and he shall burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.”"
        ],
        [
            "The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Noph, and in the land of Pathros:",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. They are a ruin today, and no one inhabits them, ",
            "on account of the wicked things they did to vex Me, going to make offerings in worship of other gods that they had not known—neither they nor you nor your ancestors. ",
            "Yet I persistently sent to you all My servants the prophets, to say, “I beg you not to do this abominable thing that I hate.” ",
            "But they would not listen or give ear, to turn back from their wickedness and not make offerings to other gods; ",
            "so My fierce anger was poured out, and it blazed against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. And they became a desolate ruin, as they still are today.",
            "And now, thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, so that every man and woman, child and infant of yours shall be cut off from the midst of Judah, and no remnant shall be left of you? ",
            "For you vex Me by your deeds, making offering to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to sojourn, so that you shall be cut off and become a curse<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a curse </b>See note at 24.9.</i> and a mockery among all the nations of earth. ",
            "Have you forgotten the wicked acts of your ancestors, of the kings of Judah and their<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>their </b>Heb. “his.”</i> wives, and your own wicked acts and those of your wives, that were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ",
            "No one has shown contrition to this day, and no one has shown reverence. You<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>You </b>Heb. “They.”</i> have not followed the Teaching and the laws that I set before you and before your ancestors.",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to set My face against you for punishment, to cut off all of Judah. ",
            "I will take the remnant of Judah who turned their faces toward the land of Egypt, to go and sojourn there, and they shall be utterly consumed in the land of Egypt. They shall fall by the sword, they shall be consumed by famine; great and small alike shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an execration and a desolation, a curse<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>an execration…a curse </b>See note at 42.18.</i> and a mockery. ",
            "I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt as I punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence. ",
            "Of the remnant of Judah who came to sojourn here in the land of Egypt, no survivor or fugitive shall be left to return to the land of Judah. Though they all long to return and dwell there, none shall return except [a few] survivors.",
            "Thereupon they answered Jeremiah—all the men who knew that their wives made offerings to other gods; all the women present, a large gathering; and all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt: ",
            "“We will not listen to you in the matter about which you spoke to us in the name of G<small>OD</small>.",
            "On the contrary, we will do everything that we have vowed<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>everything that we have vowed </b>Lit. “everything that has gone forth from our mouth.”</i> —to make offerings to the Queen of Heaven<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Queen of Heaven </b>See note at 7.18.</i> and to pour libations to her, as we used to do,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>do </b>Cf. 7.18.</i> we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty to eat, we were well-off, and suffered no misfortune. ",
            "But ever since we stopped making offerings to the Queen of Heaven and pouring libations to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been consumed by the sword and by famine. ",
            "And when we make offerings to the Queen of Heaven and pour libations to her, is it without our husbands’ approval that we have made cakes in her likeness<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>in her likeness </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> and poured libations to her?”",
            "Jeremiah replied to all the people, men and women—all the people who argued with him. He said, ",
            "“Indeed, the offerings you presented in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—you, your ancestors, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land—were remembered by G<small>OD</small> and brought to mind! ",
            "When G<small>OD</small> could no longer bear your evil practices and the abominations you committed, your land became a desolate ruin and a curse,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a curse </b>See note at 24.9; 42.18.</i> without inhabitant, as is still the case. ",
            "Because you burned incense and sinned against G<small>OD</small> and did not obey G<small>OD</small> —whose Teaching, whose laws, and whose exhortations you did not follow—therefore this disaster has befallen you, as is still the case.”",
            "Jeremiah further said to all the people, including all the women: “Hear the word of G<small>OD</small>, all Judeans in the land of Egypt! ",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have confirmed by deed what you spoke in words:<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>confirmed by deed what you spoke in words </b>Lit. “spoken with your mouth and fulfilled by your hands.”</i> ‘We will fulfill the vows that we made, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour libations to her.’ So fulfill your vows; perform your vows!",
            "“Yet hear the word of G<small>OD</small>, all Judeans who dwell in the land of Egypt! Lo, I swear by My great name—said G<small>OD</small> —that none of Judah’s contingent in all the land of Egypt shall ever again invoke My name, saying, ‘As my Sovereign G<small>OD</small> lives!’ ",
            "I will be watchful over them to their hurt, not to their benefit; all of Judah’s contingent in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by sword and by famine, until they cease to be. ",
            "Only the few who survive the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah. All the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall learn whose word will be fulfilled—Mine or theirs!",
            "“And this shall be the sign to you—declares G<small>OD</small> —that I am going to deal with you in this place, so that you may know that My threats of punishment against you will be fulfilled: ",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small>: I will deliver Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, those who seek his life, just as I delivered King Zedekiah of Judah into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.”"
        ],
        [
            "The word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he was writing these words in a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:",
            "Thus said the E<small>TERNAL</small>, the God of Israel, concerning you, Baruch: ",
            "You say, “Woe is me! G<small>OD</small> has added grief to my pain. I am worn out with groaning, and I have found no rest.” ",
            "Thus shall you speak to him: “Thus said G<small>OD</small>: I am going to overthrow what I have built, and uproot what I have planted—this applies to the whole land.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>this applies to the whole land </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "And do you expect great things for yourself? Don’t expect them. For I am going to bring disaster upon all flesh—declares G<small>OD</small> —but I will at least grant you your life<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>at least grant you your life </b>Cf. note at 21.9.</i> in all the places where you may go.”"
        ],
        [
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the nations.",
            "Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was at the river Euphrates near Carchemish, and which was defeated by King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Get ready buckler and shield,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And move forward to battle!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Harness the horses;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Mount, you riders!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fall in line, helmets on!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Burnish the lances,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Don your armor!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why do I see them dismayed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yielding ground?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their fighters are crushed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They flee in haste</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And do not turn back—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Terror all around!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The swift cannot get away,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The warrior cannot escape.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>The swift cannot get away, / The warrior cannot escape </b>Lit. “Let not the swift get away, / Let not the warrior escape.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In the north, by the river Euphrates,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They stagger and fall.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who is this that rises like the Nile,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like streams whose waters surge?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is Egypt that rises like the Nile,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like streams whose waters surge,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That said, “I will rise,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will cover the earth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will wipe out towns</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And those who dwell in them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Advance, O horses,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Dash madly, O chariots!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let the warriors go forth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Cush and Put, that grasp the shield,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the Ludim who grasp and draw the bow!”</span><br>",
            "But that day shall be for my Sovereign G<small>OD</small> of Hosts a day for exacting retribution from all foes. The sword shall devour; it shall be sated and drunk with their blood. For my Sovereign G<small>OD</small> of Hosts is preparing a sacrifice in the northland, by the river Euphrates.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Go up to Gilead and get balm,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fair Maiden Egypt.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In vain do you seek many remedies,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is no healing for you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nations have heard your shame;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The earth resounds with your screams.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For warrior stumbles against warrior;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The two fall down together.</span><br>",
            "The word that G<small>OD</small> spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Declare in Egypt, proclaim in Migdol,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Proclaim in Noph and Tahpanhes!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Say: Take your posts and stand ready,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the sword has devoured all around you!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why are your stalwarts swept away?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They did not stand firm,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> thrust them down;",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Many were made to stumble,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They fell over one another.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They said:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Up! let us return to our people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To the land of our birth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of the deadly</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>deadly </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> sword.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There they called Pharaoh king of Egypt:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Braggart who let the hour go by.”</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Braggart who let the hour go by </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As I live—declares the King,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>King </b>I.e., the One who leads the celestial army.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose name is </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As surely as Tabor is among the mountains</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And Carmel is by the sea,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So shall this come to pass.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>As surely as Tabor … come to pass </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Equip yourself for exile,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fair Egypt, you who dwell secure!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For Noph shall become a waste,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Desolate, without inhabitants.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Egypt is a handsome heifer—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A gadfly</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>gadfly </b>Or “butcher”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> from the north is coming, coming!<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>is coming, coming </b>Many mss. read “will come upon her.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The mercenaries, too, in her midst</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Are like stall-fed calves;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They too shall turn tail,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flee as one, and make no stand.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their day of disaster is upon them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The hour of their doom.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She shall rustle away like a snake</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>She shall rustle away like a snake </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As they come marching in force;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall come against her with axes,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like hewers of wood.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall cut down her forest</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though it cannot be measured;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they are more numerous than locusts,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And cannot be counted.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fair Egypt shall be shamed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Handed over to the people of the north.</span><br>",
            " \nG<small>OD</small>\n of Hosts, the God of Israel, has said: I will inflict punishment on Amon<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Amon </b>Tutelary deity of the city No (Thebes); cf. Nah. 3.8.</i> of No and on Pharaoh—on Egypt, her gods, and her kings—on Pharaoh and all who rely on him. ",
            "I will deliver them into the hands of those who seek to kill them, into the hands of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and into the hands of his subjects. But afterward she shall be inhabited again as in former days, declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have no fear, My servant Jacob,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Be not dismayed, O Israel!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will deliver you from far away,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your folk from their land of captivity;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And Jacob again shall have calm</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And quiet, with none to trouble him.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But you, have no fear,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My servant Jacob</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am with you.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will make an end of all the nations</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Among which I have banished you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I will not make an end of you!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will not leave you unpunished,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I will chastise you in measure.</span><br>"
        ],
        [
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, waters are rising from the north,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall become a raging torrent,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall flood the land and its creatures,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The towns and their inhabitants.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">People shall cry out,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All the inhabitants of the land shall howl,</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At the clatter of the stamping hoofs of Pharaoh’s</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Pharaoh’s </b>Heb. “his”; cf. v. 1.</i> stallions,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At the noise of his chariots,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The rumbling of their wheels,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Parents shall not look to their children</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Out of sheer helplessness</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>sheer helplessness </b>Lit. “weakness of hands.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of the day that is coming</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For ravaging all the Philistines,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For cutting off every last ally</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of Tyre and Sidon.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> will ravage the Philistines,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The remnant from the island of Caphtor.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Baldness</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Baldness </b>Shaving the head and gashing the body were expressions of mourning; cf. Deut. 14.1.</i> has come upon Gaza,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ashkelon is destroyed.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O remnant of their valley,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>their valley </b>Septuagint reads “the Anakites”; cf. Josh. 11.22.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How long will you gash yourself?</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>gash yourself </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“O sword of </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When will you be quiet at last?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Withdraw into your sheath,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Rest and be still!”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How can it</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>it </b>Heb. “you.”</i> be quiet<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When </span> G<small>OD</small> has given it orders<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against Ashkelon and the seacoast,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Given it assignment there?</span>"
        ],
        [
            "Concerning Moab.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\">A number of parallels to this chapter occur in Isa. 15–16.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Alas, that Nebo should be ravaged,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Kiriathaim captured and shamed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The stronghold</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>The stronghold </b>Or “Misgab.”</i> shamed and dismayed!",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Moab’s glory is no more;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In Heshbon they have planned</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>planned </b>Heb. <i>ḥashebu</i>, play on Heshbon.</i> evil against her:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Come, let us make an end of her as a nation!”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You too, O Madmen, shall be silenced;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>silenced </b>Heb. <i>tiddommi</i>, play on Madmen, the name of a town.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The sword is following you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark! an outcry from Horonaim,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Destruction and utter ruin!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Moab is broken;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her young ones cry aloud;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Her young ones cry aloud </b>Emendation yields “They cry aloud as far as Zoar”; cf. Isa. 15.5.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They climb to Luhith</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Weeping continually;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On the descent to Horonaim</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A distressing cry of anguish is heard:</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flee, save your lives!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And be like Aroer in the desert.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>And be like Aroer in the desert </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely, because of your trust</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In your wealth and in your treasures,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You too shall be captured.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And Chemosh shall go forth to exile,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Together with his priests and attendants.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The ravager shall come to every town;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No town shall escape.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The valley shall be devastated</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the tableland laid waste</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—because </span> G<small>OD</small> has spoken.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Give wings to Moab,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For she must go hence.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>wings to Moab, / For she must go hence </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her towns shall become desolate,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With no one living in them.</span><br>",
            "Cursed be he who is slack in doing G<small>OD</small>’s work! Cursed be he who withholds his sword from blood!",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Moab has been secure from his youth on—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He is settled on his lees</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And has not been poured from vessel to vessel—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He has never gone into exile.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore his fine flavor has remained</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And his bouquet is unspoiled.</span><br>",
            "But days are coming—declares G<small>OD</small> —when I will send to him those who will decant him;<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>decant him </b>Or “press forward against him”; cf. Isa. 63.1.</i> they shall empty his vessels and smash his jars. ",
            "And Moab shall be shamed because of Chemosh, as the House of Israel were shamed because of Bethel, on whom they relied.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How can you say: We are warriors,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Valiant men for war?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Moab is ravaged,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His towns have been entered,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His choice young men</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have gone down to the slaughter</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares the King</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>King </b>See note at 46.18.</i> whose name is G<small>OD</small> of Hosts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The doom of Moab is coming close,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His downfall is approaching swiftly.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Condole with him, all who live near him,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All you who know him by name!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Say: “Alas, the strong rod is broken,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The lordly staff!”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Descend from glory</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And sit in thirst,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>thirst </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O inhabitant of Fair Dibon;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the ravager of Moab has entered your town,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He has destroyed your fortresses.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Stand by the road and look out,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O inhabitant of Aroer.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ask of him who is fleeing</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And of her who is escaping:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Say, “What has happened?”</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Moab is shamed and dismayed;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Howl and cry aloud!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Tell at the Arnon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That Moab is ravaged!</span><br>",
            "Judgment has come upon the tableland—upon Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath; ",
            "upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim; ",
            "upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon; ",
            "upon Kerioth and Bozrah—upon all the towns of the land of Moab, far and near.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The might of Moab has been cut down,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His strength is broken</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Get him drunk</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For he vaunted himself against </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Moab shall vomit till he is drained,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And he too shall be a laughingstock.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Wasn’t Israel a laughingstock to you?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Was he ever caught among thieves,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That you should shake your head</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>shake your head </b>In mockery.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whenever you speak of him?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Desert the cities</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And dwell in the crags,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O inhabitants of Moab!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Be like a dove that nests</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In the sides of a pit.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">We have heard of Moab’s pride—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Most haughty is he—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of his arrogance and pride,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His haughtiness and self-exaltation.</span><br>",
            "I know his insolence—declares G<small>OD</small> —the wickedness that is in him,<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>in him </b>Cf. note at Isa. 16.6.</i> the wickedness he has<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">m</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>he has </b>Heb. “they have.”</i> committed.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore I will howl for Moab,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will cry out for all Moab,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">n</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I </b>Heb. “He.”</i> will moan for the people of Kir-heres.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With greater weeping than for Jazer</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose tendrils crossed the sea,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Reached to the sea,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">o</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Reached to the sea </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> to Jazer.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A ravager has come down</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Upon your fig and grape harvests.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Rejoicing and gladness</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Are gone from the farmland,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the country of Moab;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have put an end to wine in the presses,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No one treads [the grapes] with shouting—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The shout is a shout no more.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">p</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>The shout is a shout no more </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is an outcry from Heshbon to Elealeh,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They raise their voices as far as Jahaz,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiah.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The Waters of Nimrim</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall also become desolation.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will make an end in Moab</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of those who offer at a shrine</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And burn incense to their god.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">My heart moans for Moab like a flute;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a flute my heart moans</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the people of Kir-heres—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Therefore,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The gains they have made shall vanish</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">q</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Therefore, / The gains they have made shall vanish </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> —",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For every head is bald</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And every beard is shorn;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On all hands there are gashes,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And on the loins sackcloth.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On all the roofs of Moab,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And in its squares</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is naught but lamentation;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I have broken Moab</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a vessel no one wants</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How he is dismayed! Wail!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How Moab has turned his back in shame!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Moab shall be a laughingstock</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And a shock to all those near him.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, he soars like an eagle</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And spreads out his wings against Moab!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Kerioth shall be captured</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the strongholds shall be seized.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In that day, the heart of Moab’s warriors</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall be like the heart of a woman in travail.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And Moab shall be destroyed as a people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For he vaunted himself against </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Terror, and pit, and trap</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">r</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Terror, and pit, and trap </b>See note at Isa. 24.17.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Upon you who dwell in Moab!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He who flees from the terror</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall fall into the pit;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And he who climbs out of the pit</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall be caught in the trap.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I will bring upon Moab</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The year of their doom</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In the shelter of Heshbon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fugitives halt exhausted;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For fire went forth from Heshbon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flame from the midst</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">s</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>midst </b>Emendation yields “house.”</i> of Sihon,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Consuming the brow of Moab,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The pate of the people of Shaon.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">t</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Shaon </b>Or “tumult.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Woe to you, O Moab!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The people of Chemosh are undone,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For your sons are carried off into captivity,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your daughters into exile.</span><br>",
            "But I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the days to come—declares G<small>OD</small>.<br>Thus far is the judgment on Moab."
        ],
        [
            "Concerning the Ammonites.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has Israel no sons,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has he no heir?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then why has Milcom</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Milcom </b>The name of the Ammonite deity; vocalized Malcam here and in v. 3.</i> dispossessed Gad,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And why have his people settled in Gad’s</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Gad’s </b>Heb. “his.”</i> towns?",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, days are coming</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When I will sound the alarm of war</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against Rabbah of the Ammonites;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It shall become a desolate mound,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And its villages shall be set on fire.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And Israel shall dispossess</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those who dispossessed him</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—said </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is ravaged!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Gird on sackcloth, lament,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And run to and fro in the sheepfolds.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>And run to and fro in the sheepfolds </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For Milcom shall go into exile,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Together with his priests and attendants.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Why do you glory in strength,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your strength is drained,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Why … drained </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain; for “strength” cf. Akkadian <i>emuqu</i>.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O rebellious daughter,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You who relied on your treasures,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">[Who said:] Who dares attack me?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I am bringing terror upon you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares my Sovereign </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From all those around you.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Every one of you shall be driven in every direction,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>in every direction </b>Lit. “straight ahead.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And none shall gather in the fugitives.</span><br>",
            "But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites—declares G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Concerning Edom.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Is there no more wisdom in Teman?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has counsel vanished from the prudent?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has their wisdom gone stale?</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flee, turn away, sit down low,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O inhabitants of Dedan,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I am bringing Esau’s doom upon him,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The time when I deal with him.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">If vintagers were to come upon you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Would they leave no gleanings?</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Even thieves in the night</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Would destroy only for their needs!</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>If vintagers were to come upon you, / Would they leave no gleanings? / Even thieves in the night / Would destroy only for their needs! </b>Cf. Obad. 1.5: “If thieves were to come to you, / Marauders by night, / They would steal no more than they needed. / If vintagers came to you, / They would surely leave some gleanings.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But it is I who have bared Esau,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have exposed his place of concealment;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He cannot hide.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His offspring is ravaged,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">His kin and his neighbors—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He is no more.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>He is no more </b>Some Septuagint mss. read “And there is none to say.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Leave your orphans with me,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will rear them;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let your widows rely on me!”</span><br>",
            "For thus said G<small>OD</small>: If they who rightly should not drink of the cup must drink it, are you the one to go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished: you will have to drink! ",
            "For by Myself I swear—declares G<small>OD</small> —Bozrah shall become a desolation, a mockery, a ruin, and a curse;<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a curse </b>Cf. note at 24.9 and 42.18.</i> and all its towns shall be ruins for all time.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I have received tidings from </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And an envoy is sent out among the nations:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assemble, and move against her,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And rise up for war!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I will make you least among nations,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Most despised among humankind.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your horrible nature,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Your horrible nature </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your arrogant heart has seduced you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You who dwell in clefts of the rock,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who occupy the height of the hill!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Should you nest as high as the eagle,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From there I will pull you down</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "And Edom shall be a cause of appallment; whoever passes by will be appalled and will hiss<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hiss </b>Cf. note at 18.16.</i> at all its wounds. ",
            "It shall be like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors—said G<small>OD</small>: nobody shall live there, no human shall sojourn there. ",
            "It shall be as when a lion comes up out of the jungle of the Jordan against a secure pasture: in a moment I can harry him out of it and appoint over it anyone I choose.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I can harry him out of it and appoint over it anyone I choose </b>Emendation yields “he can harry them [i.e., the sheep] out of it; and what champion could one place in charge of them?”</i> Then who is like Me? Who can summon Me? Who is the shepherd that can stand up against Me? ",
            "Hear, then, the plan that G<small>OD</small> has devised against Edom, and what has been purposed against the inhabitants of Teman:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely the shepherd boys</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall drag them away;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely the pasture shall be</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Aghast because of them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At the sound of their downfall</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The earth shall shake;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The sound of screaming</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall be heard at the Sea of Reeds.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, like an eagle he flies up,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He soars and spreads his wings against Bozrah;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the heart of Edom’s warriors in that day</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall be like the heart of a woman in travail.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Concerning Damascus.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hamath and Arpad are shamed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For they have heard bad news.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shake with anxiety,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Like </b>So a few mss. Most mss. and editions read “In.”</i> the sea that cannot rest.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Damascus has grown weak,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She has turned around to flee;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Trembling has seized her,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pain and anguish have taken hold of her,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like a woman in childbirth.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How has the glorious city not been deserted,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">m</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>How has the glorious city not been deserted </b>Emendation yields “How has the glorious city been deserted”; so Vulgate.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The citadel of my joy!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, her young men shall lie fallen in her squares.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all her warriors shall be stilled in that day</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will set fire to the wall of Damascus,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And it shall consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon conquered.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Arise, march against Kedar,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And ravage the Kedemites!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will take away their tents and their flocks,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their tent cloths and all their gear;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall carry off their camels,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And shall proclaim against them:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Terror all around!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flee, wander far,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Sit down low, O inhabitants of Hazor</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small>.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has devised a plan against you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And formed a purpose against you:</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Rise up, attack a tranquil nation</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That dwells secure</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That has no barred gates,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That dwells alone.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their camels shall become booty,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And their abundant flocks a spoil;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will scatter to every quarter</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Those who have their hair clipped;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And from every direction I will bring</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Disaster upon them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hazor shall become a lair of jackals,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A desolation for all time.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No one shall live there,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No human shall sojourn there.</span><br>",
            "The word of G<small>OD</small> that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah:",
            "Thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts: I am going to break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their strength. ",
            "And I shall bring four winds against Elam from the four quarters of heaven, and scatter them to all those winds. There shall not be a nation to which the fugitives from Elam do not come. ",
            "And I will break Elam before their enemies, before those who seek their lives; and I will bring disaster upon them, My flaming wrath—declares G<small>OD</small>. And I will dispatch the sword after them until I have consumed them.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will set My throne in Elam,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And wipe out from there king and officials</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "But in the days to come I will restore the fortunes of Elam—declares G<small>OD</small>."
        ],
        [
            "The word that G<small>OD</small> spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through the prophet Jeremiah:",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Declare among the nations, and proclaim;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Raise a standard, proclaim;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hide nothing! Say:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Babylon is captured,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Bel</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Bel </b>A name of the city god of Babylon.</i> is shamed,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Merodach</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Merodach </b>Another name of the city god of Babylon.</i> is dismayed.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her idols are shamed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her fetishes dismayed.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For a nation from the north has attacked her,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It will make her land a desolation.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">No one shall dwell in it,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Both human and animal shall wander away.</span><br>",
            "In those days and at that time—declares G<small>OD</small> —the people of Israel together with the people of Judah shall come, and they shall weep as they go to seek the E<small>TERNAL</small> their God. ",
            "They shall inquire for Zion; in that direction their faces shall turn; they shall come<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>they shall come </b>Heb. “come!” (in the plural).</i> and attach themselves to G<small>OD</small> by a covenant for all time, which shall never be forgotten. ",
            "My people were lost sheep: their shepherds led them astray, they drove them out to the mountains, they roamed from mount to hill, they forgot their own resting place. ",
            "All who encountered them devoured them; and their foes said, “We shall not be held guilty, because they have sinned against G<small>OD</small>, the true Pasture, the Hope of their ancestors— G<small>OD</small>.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flee from Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Leave the land of the Chaldeans,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And be like he-goats that lead the flock!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For see, I am rousing and leading</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">An assemblage of great nations against Babylon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the lands of the north.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall draw up their lines against her,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There she shall be captured.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their arrows are like those of a skilled warrior</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>a skilled warrior </b>So many mss., editions, and versions; other mss. and editions read “a warrior who bereaves.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who does not turn back without hitting the mark.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Chaldea shall be despoiled,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All her spoilers shall be sated</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For you rejoiced, you exulted,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You who plundered My possession;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You stamped like a heifer treading grain,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You neighed like steeds.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So your mother will be utterly shamed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She who bore you will be disgraced.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Behold the end of the nations—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Wilderness, desert, and steppe!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of </span> G<small>OD</small>’s wrath she shall not be inhabited;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She shall be utterly desolate.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whoever passes by Babylon will be appalled</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And will hiss</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hiss </b>Cf. note at 18.16.</i> at all her wounds.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Range yourselves round about Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All you who draw the bow;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shoot at her, don’t spare arrows,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For she has sinned against </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Raise a shout against her all about!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She has surrendered;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>She has surrendered </b>Lit. “She has given her hand”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her bastions have fallen,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her walls are thrown down—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">This is </span> G<small>OD</small>’s vengeance.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Take vengeance on her,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do to her as she has done!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Make an end in Babylon of sowers,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And of wielders of the sickle at harvest time.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because of the deadly</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>deadly </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> sword,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Everyone shall turn back to their own people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All shall flee to their own land.</span><br>",
            "Israel are scattered sheep, harried by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured them, and in the end King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon crunched their bones. ",
            "Assuredly, thus said G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will deal with the king of Babylon and his land as I dealt with the king of Assyria. ",
            "And I will lead Israel back to his pasture, and he shall graze in Carmel and Bashan, and eat his fill in the hill country of Ephraim and in Gilead.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In those days and at that time</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The iniquity of Israel shall be sought,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And there shall be none;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The sins of Judah,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And none shall be found;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For I will pardon those I allow to survive.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Advance against her—the land of Merathaim</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the land of Merathaim </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And against the inhabitants of Pekod;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ruin and destroy after them to the last</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—says </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do just as I have commanded you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark! War in the land</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And vast destruction!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How the hammer of the whole earth</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Has been hacked and shattered!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How Babylon has become</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">An appallment among the nations!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I set a snare for you, O Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And you were trapped unawares;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You were found and caught,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Because you challenged </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> has opened the divine armory<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And brought out the weapons of wrath;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For that is the task</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of my Sovereign </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In the land of the Chaldeans.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Come against her from every quarter;</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>from every quarter </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Break open her granaries,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pile her up like heaps of grain,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Pile her up like heaps of grain </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And destroy her, let her have no remnant!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Destroy all</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Destroy all </b>Emendation yields “A sword against”; cf. vv. 35ff.</i> her bulls,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let them go down to slaughter.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Alas for them, their day is come,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The hour of their doom!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark! fugitives are escaping</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the land of Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To tell in Zion of the vengeance of </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Vengeance for the holy</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the holy </b>Lit. “His.”</i> temple.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Summon archers against Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All who draw the bow!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Encamp against her round about,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let none of her people escape.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pay her back for her actions,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do to her just what she has done;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For she has acted insolently against </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The Holy One of Israel.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, her young men shall fall in her squares,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all her warriors shall perish in that day</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I am going to deal with you, O Insolence</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares my Sovereign </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For your day is come, the time when I doom you:</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Insolence shall stumble and fall,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With none to raise her up.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will set her cities on fire,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And it shall consume everything around her.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The people of Israel are oppressed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And so too the people of Judah;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">All their captors held them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They refused to let them go.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their mighty Redeemer,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose name is </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Will champion their cause—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">So as to give rest to the earth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A sword against the Chaldeans</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And against the inhabitants of Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against its officials and its sages!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A sword against the diviners, that they be made fools of!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A sword against the warriors, that they be dismayed!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A sword against its horses and chariots,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And against all the motley crowd in its midst,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That they become women!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A sword against its treasuries, that they be pillaged!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A drought</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">m</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>drought </b><i>Ḥoreb</i>, play on <i>ḥereb</i>, “sword” in preceding verses.</i> against its waters, that they be dried up!<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For it is a land of idols;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are besotted by their dread images.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">n</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>dread images </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Wildcats and hyenas</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">o</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Wildcats and hyenas </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> shall dwell [there],<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And ostriches shall dwell there;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It shall never be settled again,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Nor inhabited throughout the ages.</span><br>",
            "It shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors—declares G<small>OD</small>; nobody shall live there, no human shall sojourn there.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lo, a people comes from the northland;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A great nation and many kings are roused</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From the remotest parts of the earth.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They grasp the bow and javelin,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are cruel, they show no mercy;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The sound of them is like the roaring sea.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They ride upon horses,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Accoutered like a man for battle,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against you, O Fair Babylon!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The king of Babylon has heard the report of them,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And his hands are weakened;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Anguish seizes him,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pangs like a woman in childbirth.</span><br>",
            "It shall be as when a lion comes out of the jungle of the Jordan against a secure pasture: in a moment I can harry them out of it and appoint over it anyone I choose.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">p</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>I can harry them out of it and appoint over it anyone I choose </b>See note at 49.19.</i> Then who is like Me? Who can summon Me? Who is the shepherd that can stand up against Me? ",
            "Hear, then, the plan that G<small>OD</small> has devised against Babylon, and has purposed against the land of Chaldea:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely the shepherd boys</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall drag them away;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Surely the pasture shall be</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Aghast because of them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At the sound of Babylon’s capture</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The earth quakes,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And an outcry is heard among the nations.</span>"
        ],
        [
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, I am rousing a destructive wind</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Against Babylon and the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Leb-kamai </b>A cipher for <i>Kasdim</i> “Chaldea.”</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will send strangers</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>strangers </b>Change of vocalization yields “winnowers.”</i> against Babylon, and they shall winnow her.<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they shall strip her land bare;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall beset her on all sides</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">On the day of disaster.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Let </b>Some Heb. mss. and ancient versions read “Let not” here and in next line.</i> the archer draw his bow,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And let him stand ready in his coat of mail!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Show no pity to her young men,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Wipe out all her host!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let them fall slain in the land of Chaldea,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Pierced through in her streets.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For Israel and Judah were not bereft</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>bereft </b>Lit. “widowed.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of their God—</span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But their land was filled with guilt</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Before the Holy One of Israel.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Flee from the midst of Babylon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And save your lives, each of you!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not perish for her iniquity;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For this is a time of vengeance for </span> G<small>OD</small>,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who will deal retribution to her.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Babylon was a golden cup in </span> G<small>OD</small>’s hand,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It made the whole earth drunk;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The nations drank of her wine—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That is why the nations are mad.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Howl over her!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Get balm for her wounds:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Perhaps she can be healed.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">We tried to cure Babylon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But she was incurable.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let us leave her and go,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Each to our own land;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For her punishment reaches to heaven,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">It is as high as the sky.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> has proclaimed our vindication;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Come, let us recount in Zion</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The deeds of </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> our God.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Polish the arrows,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fill the quivers!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> has roused the spirit of the kings of Media,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the divine plan against Babylon is to destroy her.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">This is G<small>OD</small>’s vengeance,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Vengeance for the holy</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the holy </b>Lit. “His.”</i> temple.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Raise a standard against the walls of Babylon!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Set up a blockade; station watchmen;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Prepare those in ambush.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> has both planned and performed<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">What was decreed against the inhabitants of Babylon.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">O you who dwell by great waters,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With vast storehouses,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Your time is come, the hour of your end.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>the hour of your end </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\"> \nG<small>OD</small>\n </span> of Hosts has wholeheartedly sworn:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will fill you with enemies</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>enemies </b>Lit. “people.”</i> like a locust swarm,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They will raise a shout against you.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">[God] made the earth by might,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Established the world by wisdom,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And with understanding stretched out the skies.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When [God] bellows,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>When [God] bellows </b>Lit. “At the sound of His making.”</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is a rumbling of waters in the skies;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Vapors rise from the end of the earth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Lightning accompanies the rain,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And wind is brought forth from God’s treasuries.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Every mortal is proved dull, without knowledge;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Every goldsmith is put to shame because of the idol,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For their molten images are a deceit—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">There is no breath in them.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They are delusion, a work of mockery;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In their hour of doom, they shall perish.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Not like these is the Portion of Jacob—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The One who formed all things,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With Israel as a permanent possession—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose name is </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You are My war club, [My] weapons of battle;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed nations,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I destroyed kingdoms;</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed horse and rider,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed chariot and driver,</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed man and woman,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed graybeard and boy,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed youth and maiden;</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed shepherd and flock,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed plower and team,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">With you I clubbed governors and prefects.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">But I will requite Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For all the wicked things they did to Zion before your eyes</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">See, I will deal with you, O mountain of the destroyer</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Destroyer of the whole earth!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will stretch out My hand against you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And roll you down from the crags,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And make you a burnt-out mountain.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They shall never take from you</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A cornerstone or foundation stone;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You shall be a desolation for all time</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Raise a standard on earth,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Sound a horn among the nations,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Appoint nations against her,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assemble kingdoms against her—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Designate a marshal against her,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Bring up horses like swarming</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>swarming </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> locusts!",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Appoint nations for war against her—</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The kings of Media,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her governors and all her prefects,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all the lands they rule!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then the earth quakes and writhes,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small>’s purpose is fulfilled against Babylon,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To make the land of Babylon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A waste without inhabitant.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The warriors of Babylon stop fighting,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They sit in the strongholds,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Their might is dried up,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They become women.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her dwellings are set afire,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her bars are broken.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Runner dashes to meet runner,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Messenger to meet messenger,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">To report to the king of Babylon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">That his city is captured, from end to end.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The fords are captured,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the swamp thickets</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">j</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>thickets </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> are consumed in fire;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And the warriors are in panic.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts, the God of Israel:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Fair Babylon is like a threshing floor</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Ready to be trodden;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">In a little while her harvesttime will come.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Devoured me and discomfited me;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He swallowed me like a dragon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He filled his belly with my dainties,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And set me down like an empty dish;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Then he rinsed me out.</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">k</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>rinsed me out </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Let the violence done me and my kindred</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Be upon Babylon,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Says the inhabitant of Zion;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“And let my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Says Jerusalem.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, thus said </span> G<small>OD</small>:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I am going to uphold your cause</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And take vengeance for you;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will dry up her sea</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And make her fountain run dry.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Babylon shall become rubble,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A den for jackals,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">An object of horror and hissing,</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">l</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>hissing </b>See note at 18.16.</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Without inhabitant.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like lions, they roar together,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">They growl like lion cubs.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When they are heated, I will set out their drink</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And get them drunk, that they may become hilarious</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">m</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>When they are heated, I will set out their drink / And get them drunk, that they may become hilarious </b>Emendation yields “With poison [so Syriac] will I set out their drink / And get them drunk till they fall unconscious” (so ancient versions).</i> <br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And then sleep an endless sleep,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Never to awake</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will bring them down like lambs for slaughter,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Like rams and he-goats.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How has Sheshach</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">n</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>Sheshach </b>See note at 25.26.</i> been captured,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The praise of the whole earth been taken!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">How has Babylon become</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A horror to the nations!</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The sea has risen over Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">She is covered by its roaring waves.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her towns are a desolation,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A land of desert and steppe,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A land nobody at all lives in</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And no human passes through.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And I will deal with Bel in Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And make him disgorge what he has swallowed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And nations shall no more gaze on him with joy.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Even the wall of Babylon shall fall.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Depart from there, O My people,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Save your lives, each of you,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">From G<small>OD</small>’s furious anger.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Do not be downhearted or afraid</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">At the rumors heard in the land:</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">A rumor will come one year,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And another rumor the next year</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Of violence in the land,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And of ruler against ruler.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, days are coming,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When I will deal with Babylon’s images;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her whole land shall be shamed,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And all her slain shall fall in her midst.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Heavens and earth and all that is in them</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Shall shout over Babylon;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For the ravagers shall come upon her from the north</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Yes, Babylon is to fall</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">[For] the slain of Israel,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">As the slain of all the earth</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Have fallen through Babylon.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">You fugitives from the sword,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Go, don’t delay!</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Remember </span> G<small>OD</small> from afar,<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And call Jerusalem to mind.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">“We were shamed, we heard taunts;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Humiliation covered our faces,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When aliens entered</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The sacred areas of </span> G<small>OD</small>’s House.”",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Assuredly, days are coming</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small> —<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">When I will deal with her images,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And throughout her land the dying shall groan.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though Babylon should climb to the skies,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Though she fortify her strongholds up to heaven,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">The ravagers would come against her from Me</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares </span> G<small>OD</small>.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Hark! an outcry from Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> G<small>OD</small> is ravaging Babylon;<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">He will put an end to her great din,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose roar is like waves of mighty waters,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Whose tumultuous noise resounds.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For a ravager is coming upon Babylon,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her warriors shall be captured, their bows shall be snapped.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">For </span> the E<small>TERNAL</small> is a God of requital—<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Who deals retribution.</span>",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">I will make her officials and her sages drunk,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Her governors and prefects and warriors;</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And they shall sleep an endless sleep,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Never to awaken</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAllDouble\">—declares the King</span><sup class=\"footnote-marker\">o</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>King </b>See note at 46.18.</i> whose name is G<small>OD</small> of Hosts.",
            "<span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Thus said </span> G<small>OD</small> of Hosts:<br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Babylon’s broad wall shall be knocked down,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And her high gates set afire.</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">Peoples shall labor for naught,</span><br><span class=\"poetry indentAll\">And nations have wearied themselves for fire.</span><br>",
            "The instructions that the prophet Jeremiah gave to Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when the latter went with<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">p</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>with </b>Emendation yields “at the instance of.”</i> King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylonia, in the fourth year of [Zedekiah’s] reign. Seraiah was quartermaster.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">q</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>quartermaster </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "Jeremiah wrote down in one scroll all the disaster that would come upon Babylon, all these things that are written concerning Babylon. ",
            "And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read out all these words. ",
            "And say, ‘O E<small>TERNAL</small> One, You Yourself have declared concerning this place that it shall be cut off, without inhabitants—humans or animals; that it shall be a desolation for all time.’ ",
            "And when you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and hurl it into the Euphrates. ",
            "And say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink and never rise again, because of the disaster that I will bring upon it. And [nations] shall have wearied themselves [for fire].’”<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">r</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>[for fire] </b>Cf. v. 58, last line.</i> Thus far the words of Jeremiah."
        ],
        [
            "<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">a</sup><i class=\"footnote\">For this chapter cf. chap. 39 above and 2 Kings 24–25.</i> Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ",
            "He did what was displeasing to G<small>OD</small>, just as Jehoiakim had done. ",
            "Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah were a cause of anger for G<small>OD</small>, so that<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">b</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>were a cause of anger for G<small>OD</small>, so that </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> they were cast out of the divine presence.<br>Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. ",
            "And in the ninth year of his<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">c</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>his </b>I.e., Zedekiah’s.</i> reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadrezzar moved against Jerusalem with his whole army. They besieged it and built towers against it all around. ",
            "The city continued in a state of siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.",
            "By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine had become acute in the city; there was no food left for the common people.",
            "Then [the wall of] the city was breached. All the soldiers fled; they left the city by night through the gate between the double walls, which is near the king’s garden—the Chaldeans were all around the city—and they set out for the Arabah.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">d</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>set out for the Arabah </b>See note at 39.4.</i> ",
            "But the Chaldean troops pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the steppes of Jericho, as his entire force left him and scattered. ",
            "They captured the king and brought him before the king of Babylon at Riblah, in the region of Hamath; and he put him on trial. ",
            "The king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons slaughtered before his eyes; he also had all the officials of Judah slaughtered at Riblah.",
            "Then the eyes of Zedekiah were put out, and he was chained in bronze fetters. The king of Babylon brought him to Babylon and put him in prison, [where he remained] to the day of his death.",
            "On the tenth day of the fifth month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, came to represent<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">e</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>to represent </b>Lit. “he stood before.”</i> the king of Babylon in Jerusalem. ",
            "He burned the House of G<small>OD</small>, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down the house of every notable person.<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">f</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>every notable person </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> ",
            "The entire Chaldean force that was with the chief of the guards tore down all the walls of Jerusalem on every side.",
            "The remnant of the people left in the city, the defectors who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and what remained of the artisans<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">g</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>what remained of the artisans </b>Apparently after the deportation of 2 Kings 24.14; meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> were taken into exile by Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards. But some of the poorest elements of the population— ",
            "some of the poorest in the land—were left by Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, to be vine-dressers and field hands.",
            "The Chaldeans broke up the bronze columns of the House of G<small>OD</small>, the stands, and the bronze tank that was in the House of G<small>OD</small>; and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon. ",
            "They also took the pails, scrapers, snuffers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and all the other bronze vessels used in the service. ",
            "The chief of the guards took whatever was of gold and whatever was of silver: basins, fire pans, sprinkling bowls, pails, lampstands, ladles, and jars. ",
            "The two columns, the one tank and the twelve bronze oxen that supported it, and the stands, which King Solomon had provided for the House of G<small>OD</small> —all these objects contained bronze beyond weighing. ",
            "As for the columns, each was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; it was hollow, and [the metal] was four fingers thick. ",
            "It had a bronze capital above it; the height of each capital was five cubits, and there was a meshwork [decorated] with pomegranates about the capital, all made of bronze; and so for the second column, also with pomegranates. ",
            "There were ninety-six pomegranates facing outward;<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">h</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>facing outward </b>Meaning of Heb. uncertain.</i> all the pomegranates around the meshwork amounted to one hundred.",
            "The chief of the guards also took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the deputy priest, and the three guardians of the threshold. ",
            "And from the city he took a eunuch who was in command of the soldiers; seven royal privy councillors, who were present in the city; the scribe of the army commander, who was in charge of mustering the people of the land; and sixty of the common people who were inside the city. ",
            "Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ",
            "The king of Babylon had them struck down and put to death at Riblah, in the region of Hamath.<br>Thus Judah was exiled from its land. ",
            "This is the number of those whom Nebuchadrezzar exiled in the seventh year: 3,023 Judeans. ",
            "In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar, 832 persons [were exiled] from Jerusalem. ",
            "And in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, exiled 745 Judeans. The total amounted to 4,600 persons.",
            "In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the year he became king, took note of<sup class=\"footnote-marker\">i</sup><i class=\"footnote\"><b>took note of </b>Lit. “raised the head of.”</i> King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. ",
            "He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a throne above those of other kings who were with him in Babylon. ",
            "He removed his prison garments and [Jehoiachin] ate regularly in his presence the rest of his life.",
            "A regular allotment of food was given him by order of the king of Babylon, an allotment for each day, to the day of his death—all the days of his life."
        ]
    ],
    "versions": [
        [
            "THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition",
            "https://jps.org/books/the-jps-tanakh-gender-sensitive-edition/"
        ]
    ],
    "heTitle": "ירמיהו",
    "categories": [
        "Tanakh",
        "Prophets"
    ],
    "sectionNames": [
        "Chapter",
        "Verse"
    ]
}